Transcripts For CSPAN2 Public Affairs Events 20161026

I know you mentioned that you think the people are gone now. I mean, humanity is really wanting precision and a congressman in that government. And so otherwise we do face a huge rebound in coming. Arguably we already are seeing it. Its an excellent question that is quite the paradox which is to be sent down into any group of voters and asked them what the number one problem in washington, they dont get anything done. Nothing gets done. Totally dysfunctional. They do not think logically. We rationalize about everything we do. Oh, i can have another cookie, i think i walked like 20,000 steps today. Whatever whatever you want to rationalize you can. Thats how i think we are becoming more frustrated with the process than ever and as molly pointed out, we are more polarized than ever at the same time. So that piece of it, and this desire to always be on the winning side, compromise is losing, i think it is seen not just in washington and the way the world works these days. I dont want this belief that this is the only way we break it , but we have had a real crisis moment in this country to bring us together. Like a great depression, like a world war, 9 11 was traumatic, the 2008 financial crisis was dramatic but it did not impact everybody equally. I was talking to a guy the other day who is africanamerican and he was noting about how much more racially charged his city was that when he grew up in galveston. I said why is that. He said if we had hurricanes all the time in galveston and you had to be friends with your neighbor. At some point youre going to need their generator or their power was on and yours wasnt and you needed something out of the refrigerator. We wouldnt have been friends otherwise, but now if you have enough money, you can isolate yourself. You dont need anybody. That kind of feels like a great way to think about where we are. 40 years ago people in this town were saying it was better in the old days and maybe they were, but when i think of the last ten, 25 years, the caliber of people whose representative tire met parties ive gone to was a lot higher than the swearings in. It was a big gap. A month or so ago i was on the hill and i had met with the republican congressman who had never met before and what the hell, it was a greg harper from just outside mississippi and i walked out of his office thinking wow, hes kind of like the members we use to see. He was really conservative but he was reasonable and the kind of guy that could be a really effective member, but it made me nostalgia nostalgic of this relatively Junior Member because he represented what used to be pretty common and its disillusioning. I think the incredibly negative and invasive nature of campaigns has something to do with it. I think fundraising has something to do with it, i think every snarky reporters who play gotcha all the time, all these things have combined and the loss of community has also contributed to the place, congress was never efficient, but it was productive. Lets go right there in the back, all the way. I used to cover politics in this town. Wow, i didnt recognize you adam. Witness protection. [laughter] two things that i think are related. Youve gotten from four or maybe five, up to possibly seven seats in the senate. Im curious what the last two were, and also, also, do you think the republicans will filibuster any Supreme Court nominee who isnt committed to the Second Amendment as seen by david king . Good question. I can see, if the senate goes democratic, and i think its a chance that it does, i think they are going to look at mayor garland as probably the best deal they can get. Question is, if they they lose the senate, i would be somewhat inclined to say, we dont want to confirm him but if you put him back up after we lose our majority, we will not beat him. They would not want their fingerprints on the trigger as having help them get confirmed but theyre not going to way across the Railroad Tracks either. Theyve climbed out on a limb that is hard for them to get back on, but i think they know he is a lot less worse than they expected, a lot lot less worse than it could be. He is somewhat older then, if a democratic president put a 55yearold on the court, so i think they may wait till after the first of the year and have clinton put him back up and from her standpoint, i would think, first of all, i think she would be perfectly fine with him, but the last thing she wants is a divisive Supreme Court pick. Thats what i think will happen. If republicans went from losing 4 7 or 4 6, indiana would probably be one of the last ones to go. In the end, maybe North Carolina, maybe nevada, those would be the last three as opposed to the first group. You think those are closer than missouri . Is missouri also in that group . I consider roy a friend. I think his chances of coming back are not real great. Thats with trump winning the state. I think a lot of the trump, anti washington, anti politicians out there, i think somebody wrote a piece the other day that was working against both roy and evan. I think evan started off in a little bit better position, but well see. On the Supreme Court, its interesting, the scenario that you laid out is one that i was also dealing with and i talked to a democrat the other day who i consider to be a very moderate , and said this exact same scenario. Why would we even do that . What you talking about . Shes the president and she gets to pick whatever she wants to pick. Why would she put garland up there . Absolutely not. Thats from a moderate. Then i think what is Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders going to commands. Republicans you said all along you dont want to do it during a lameduck president. Its fine. Heres the new president with her new choice. The pressure, i agree, it would be better to get it done and not have the fight. I think the pressure on the left is going to be severe and maybe not just the far left but maybe even the middle left for her getting who she wants rather than just making it a republican approved candidate. We will see how tough she is. I think shes a pretty tough cookie, and i dont see that in a majority of way at all, but we will see. You do have a lot of democrats already sang, if she wins by a landslide or a bigger margin than barack obama one in 2008, why is the first thing she has to do to start making concessions. Why is it that republicans are going to say you get even less to work with them we gave obama. How is that fair . Lets go i know its in Economic Affairs determine election, but i keep thinking for years after the lbj landside, they began a landslide in the white house. That was after the vietnam war. You think of all the banana peels out there and the relative power in the world that is at a relatively low point compared to 25 years ago, what kind of, how much concentration, assuming clinton gets elected, is she is she going to have to focus on International Events . I know its a bit of a crystal ball in here but how will this affect the political situation. In these conversations to little less of an electoral factor even if its not the policymaking process and theyre not as reliant on congress to get done. They have much more free reign there. If donald trump had never happened and this was a campaign , i think we would have much more litigation, not just of the Obama Administration Foreign Policy record but also the division between the Hillary Clinton style and the barack obama style which she has, at some point been openly critical of. How do you see her making those decisions and how much of a shadow is that going to cast for her potential presidency. I guess my reaction, and i say this hesitantly because theres a pretty big percentage of this room here that would be Better Qualified to answer than i am, but would be over or under 50 of her time . The only reason why Foreign Affairs might be under 50 is that the domestic side is more timeconsuming because as molly said, you do have to work with congress and you do have to stroke people in all of that with Foreign Policy. Maybe you can be a little bit more efficient with your time and a little more decisive, but i think it would be fairly close to 5050. Yes, the world is a much more disorderly place than he used to be and i dont know, ill call it a day there. Basically, nobody knows pretty thick we have time for one or two more questions. Lets go to this man in the red bracelet. Do you have any observations about the x the call and moral dilemma Godfearing Christians of faith that they are having faced with the choice of the two Major Party Candidates who are both coming from the protestant tradition. Amy to want to take that one. Mean are you specifically talking about evangelical voters for everybody . For voter who has as their core value system. We have so many voters right now saying they are voting for the least worst choice. There isnt a perfect candidate right now. I think what we are seeing in some places, where it showing up in a place like utah where you have a significant mormon population is a support for a third candidate which is Evan Mcmullen who is a utah native and former security official who is getting anywhere from second and first place. Thats where you put your trust if youre sending a statement that i want a republican but i dont want a trump kind of republican. They simply say they are holding and using other factors to determine their choice in votes but i think it goes beyond people of religious faith. I think there are a lot of very disillusioned and disappointed voters out there and this is the reality of the campaign that we are in. There are very few choices im trying to decide how much do i want to force the people of my office who will be answering the phones for the next two days and looking at our generic inbox, you know, i tried to stay in the middle and try hard, sometimes its easier, sometimes its harder, but when i think, and i came from a southern protestant background, when i think of religious conservatives, when i think of evangelical christians, when i think of sort of the value structure that they have historically represented, and then i see a fair number of them supporting someone that is so far astray from judeochristian values in so many ways, were talking about donald trump, i think, you know what, i dont really need to give a lecture on values from evangelical christians from those folks anymore. I wont set for it because to me , they are just so blinded by hatred of Hillary Clinton, someone who do have a church type background, i find it, when people are driven by hate as opposed to trying to feel like who actually reflects my values and they kind of cut a deal that they would want our leaders to be, i guess im gonna save a lot of time by not having to listen to certain people anymore because as far as i am concerned, they are hypocrites. Wow. Lets take one more question. From you in the back, sir. Then well get out of here and take a shower. [laughter] good afternoon, its a pleasure to speak with you. I have the great experience and opportunity to visit the trump hotel, socalled grand opening today. I was fortunate to be part of the press so i got a chance to go inside and see what is being said and hundreds of people were there. On the way out i met it interesting woman who is a very passionate trump supporter who i had an opportunity to interview and she was amazing. I have to say, she was amazing and not only her passion but she did not come across as a stereo typical trump supporter. She was actually very interesting and friendly and educated. Do you have a questions or. My question is, is it possible, in the future, we can try harder to understand each others point of view because sometimes there is a middle ground and we all are human and we believe in what we have to offer. Can we come together at some point later on. Ive been building middleground all my life. I think thats a good question after this election. Given how so many divides have come to the foreground in the electorate, not so much in the political process as in the actual social fabric of america, do people have any desire to get along and be in community with each other or would they rather pull away and scapegoat and character. Is it unique to this campaign , i would argue no. This is the challenge at large for our society which is the way we treat each other on twitter or social media is not new. That did not come about simply because of this campaign. That has been there for a while. The Community Building that we care about has been isolating ourselves in little bubbles of comfort and it has been for a long time too. Ive been arguing for some time that the surprising thing about this election isnt that its happening, its that it took this long to happen. Weve been quite happy staying in our little bubbles and i think thats where we will stay. A campaign brings a lot to the floor but i think we will retreat back to the safe places weve always been. I think there are some things that have been set loose, we lifted up a rock and a whole bunch of stuff started crawling out from under it. You cant put that rock down. Yet we do. Are we better off knowing what was under the rock or were we better off not knowing. I think we are better off with the rock still there. I feel like we do this with so many things and clearly, what we are seeing now, especially in the black lives Matter Movement, is a reality that has been there since the founding of this country. We have had a deep wound that we have never healed and we just put a bandaid on it and wait loses out and we put a bandaid on it and it loses out and weve never fixed it, weve never gone to the underlying cause of that wound. I dont think this campaign is going to do anything with those other wounds. I will say, the one positive side, its such a downer, but the nostalgia for the past is that the reality now is we are at diversifying country and in that youre getting a lot more Diverse Voices in the mix which is the good part. Somebody like me wasnt allowed to do things that i can do now 50 years ago. That is fantastic. Voices that weve never heard before are now part of the dialogue. The breakup of traditional media and Traditional Television networks is great. Theres no match, one show that everybody in america watches but there is lots of shows that were never part of the process before. Thats what happens when you get it an increasingly Diverse Society with open borders, this is what you get. Some of it is really bad and ugly, but at its core, its making sure that we dont just have one definitive voice trying to make the case how everybody should think and look and act. Thats the positive piece of what has come, not just of this campaign but of this changing society. On that refound note, thank, thank you everyone for coming. [applause] [inaudible conversation] [inaudible conversation] if you missed any of this discussion, it will be available later on in our video library. Just go to cspan. Org. We are back on the road to the white house later today with democrat Hillary Clinton. She is is celebrating her 69th birthday today. She is continuing her efforts in the battleground state of florida. Watch her rally live at 245 eastern. Eastern. Thats on our companion network cspan. We will also hear from her rival ticket with remarks from republican Vice President ial nominee mike pence. Indiana governor in another battleground state, utah, watch that live at 530 eastern back here on cspan2. We recently spoke with the Trump Pence Campaign manager about the state of the race. Joining us on the phone from new york is kelly and conway, the Campaign Manager for the trump pence ticket. Thanks for being with us. Its my pleasure. On sunday you told chuck todd we are behind with two weeks to go before the election. How do you get ahead . We are behind slightly, we are up and others, particularly states where barack obama carried the state twice. We feel really good about that. These are states that mccain and romney did not carry. The way we get ahead is for mr. Trump to keep doing what hes done all along which is to do these rallies, these roundtables, take his message directly to the people, he cant really wait to get fair coverage from the mainstream media. We do have advertising, nothing on the scale that Hillary Clinton has had. Shes running a much more conventional campaign and she is a more conventional candidate. I think a candidate like donald trump demands an unconventional approach. I will tell you lots of folks think the crowds at these rallies dont matter. I will tell you, the enthusiasm and momentum never abates no matter what the media stories are, no matter how many victory laps Hillary Clinton and her friends are taking, folks folks are showing up ten, 15000 strong for each trump event and that has to mean something because youre waiting in line for hours and hours just to say you were there when he was there in your part of the Trump Movement which is more of a movement than a campaign. Then of course youre going to come out and vote. Of course we like the returns in the early voting that we see, particularly in places like North Carolina, iowa, ohio, somewhat in florida. We are focusing we are focusing on the fact that the rnc has helped us tremendously to have this in place. We are starting to see the fruits of that when the early returns are coming in. As you know, the new politics average in states like florida, New Hampshire give the edge to Hillary Clinton. In ohio he is only up one percentage point within the margin of air. Sure, thats what campaigns are for. We see mrs. Clinton below 50 everywhere. The National Polls dont matter quite as much but even in the more credible one, its a tighter race. Nationwide you see the cnn poll five points nationwide, but shes never at 50 in the state polls. It just suggests to me that if you were the incumbent you represent the system where the status quo, more the same, its unlikely that those truly undecided voters will pave the way. One of these undecided voters going to learn about her, what are they going to learn . Something is holding them back. Many of those voters have decided im not voting for Hillary Clinton and now they want the final, they want the Closing Argument to vote for donald trump. I think he did a great job in gettysburg and since then in these multi stop to her as the few days talking about his vision. Its a very meaty plan and specific. They can go to our website or his twitter feed and look at it for themselves. Educational reform, defeating terrorism, respecting lawenforcement, specific plans to repeal obama pair agenda obamacare. Big news today, weve learned its a bad deal for many americans. You have a 25 increases coming down the pike for one of the largest insurers. Thats what weve always said, it is the best example of how invasive, intrusive and expansive the federal government has come for many american. As you know, youve been asked so often, the number one criticism is that he has not been disciplined enough. You mention the gettysburg speech and he also talked about the time warner merger and his own accusers are stepping on what was his major policy speech on his first 100 days. When you talk to mr. Trump, what, what you tell him about that . First of all, i think he has a right to defend himself and those are his words, its his campaign and has to be his choice in his voice. Im always preeminently respectful of that. Secondly, i think he is at his best when he sticks to the issues because when you go to his what rallies and you listen to voters, thats what they want to hear. He has a great advantage. One is the issue is much more in his favor. She cannot say obamacare has been a great deal for most americans, many people people feel lower quality, lower choices, less access. She cant say that they have stopped isis from expanding. Its not true. She cant disavow her own record on the russian theory. The second thing he has going is that she doesnt see seem to have much interest in talking about the issues. Her negative ads are almost all about donald trump. Thats not a campaign of ideas or aspirations. Its just personal destruction and i believe many voters will reject that. Donald trump outperformed a number of his polling averages in the primaries and i think lastminute, folks will say who am i if not a change maker. Ive been telling folks that i want to take the country and washington d. C. In a new direction and heres my chance to do that. Im going to leverage that chance and go for donald trump. Let me ask you about utah. Mike pence will be in Salt Lake City campaigning. This is a state that has not voted for a democrat since 1964 when Lyndon Johnson won in a landslide. Are you worried about utah . We want to make sure that Evan Mcmullen is running as an independent candidate does not win utah because its more like running for governor of utah. He spends a lot of his time there and i think the never traverse put him in opposition just want to choke off that which has traditionally been a very red state. If you get a candidate who shares a lot with people in the state to run in the state almost exclusively, you can get him up to 31 . Then anyone can win with 32 of the vote. Its also a state work up in her pants has a friend and where he recently taught in education Reform Senate and hes on his way and i also take nothing for granted. Thats my job. My job is also not to chase every statewide poll and deploy our best resources there meaning governor pence and mr. Trump. I looked toward the obama 2012 effort as a partial model and that even though some of the states looked like they had one started to look better for him as he started to improve but makeup being competitive and they wanted to seal the deal where they were most competitive. I think that was a smart strategy. And finally, as an out, is get on you, kelly and conways day off, your reaction to saturday night live. It was very flattering and affectionate and adorable. I know it was meant to be a parity. As my cousin said to me, boy, they really followed you around for a few days. On the family side it captured my life and my chief earl chaos and blessings of four children in a busy household very well. I think it was great. I actually think saturday night live is doing a nice job transferring their skills between Hillary Clinton and me. That cant be easy. They had a really good deep laugh in my household over it. Alec baldwin playing your boss. He seems to be a meaner donald trump. I think the old donald trump was a little bit more the donald trump that i know. Obviously alec baldwin is not supportive of donald trump so there was something to that when youre betraying someone. I think some of the writing is really good, i just think people, if people could see the donald trump humor that i see, people get the chance to know him do see that in him. I think the Media Coverage was never interested in the theme of his 45 minute speech. How much time did he spend after the rally shaking hands and hugging kids. He loves that. Thats his oxygen. Thats the life blood of his. He really enjoys mixing it up with people. Thats everything a candidate should be to me. I hope folks are getting that essence of donald trump as well. Kelly and conway, the manager of the come trump campaign, thank you you for being with us. Thank you, all the best. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is making a rare public appearance at the heritage foundation. He is expected to talk about the constitution and democracy. Watch it live at 6 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. Cspan brings you more debates from key u. S. House and senate races. Today at seven live on cspan, kathy debates for the senate seat. Then the iowa Third District congressional debate with david young and democrat. Then a debate for the Florida Senate between marco rubio and patrick murphy. Now until election day, watch key debates on the cspan network, cspan. Org and listen on the cspan radio app. Cspan, where history unfolds daily. Now its another state race debate with candidates to be pennsylvanias next u. S. Senator. Republican and incumbent pat toomey and Katie Mcginty. They participated at the campus of Temple University in pennsylvania. Included gun control, the economy and president ial candidates. This runs just shy of an hour. The candidates are pat toomey and democrat Katie Mcginty. Tonights debate is brought to by abc in philadelphia and the womens voters in pennsylvania. Now live from the temple of performing center in philadelphia, your moderator jim gardner. Good evening and welcome to the final debate between the republican and Democratic Candidates for the u. S. Senate from pennsylvania. Over the next hour they will be answering questions posed by me as well as questions posed by me and members of the audience. Speaking of the audience, we have asked everybody here to refrain from any other interruptions except for right now. As we welcome pat toomey and Katie Mcginty. [applause] we are so glad that you are here and look forward to a terrific debate here tonight. Before we begin, a quick note on some of the ground rules. Each candidate will have one minute to answer the question posed to them followed by a one minute response for rebuttal. To the candidates, personal message from me, i hope i hope to cover a lot of ground tonight i hope you wont think that im disrespectful. If i really try to hold you to your time limit and i will need your help. I will appreciate your help with that. The candidates will also have 90 seconds at the end of the debate for a closing statement. By random draw, the first question goes to Katie Mcginty. Few issues around pennsylvania stir passion on both sides more than the issue of guns and gun violence in the Second Amendment do you support background check and assault a ban on high capacity in your munition clips and a nofly, nobuy list . Gabby giffords has endorsed your opponent. If she were in this room, what would you say to her . I would say to her first, jim, thank you for having us and thanks to all of you, the first thing i would say is to thank her for her service, her witness and her leadership. The issue of gun violence is a critical one. Some 300,000 people were killed over the last decade through gun violence. I would take a leadership role because i think theres Common Ground to be had on this issue. I come from a family where my brothers were hunters and sportsmen and i dont think thats the issue, but coming coming together on common sense issue like not letting terrorists by guns in this country, i think we can get it done. To get it done, you have to stick with it. Thats the difference i have with senator to me. He wants his name to a bill but then said when the bill only fell back couple of boats, the senate has spoken, lets move on, let democrats take the lead. Im ready to take the lead on this critical issue. Its good to see you back in the seat. Im glad you are doing well. Thanks for hosting this and i want to thank my many family and friends who came down from the Lehigh Valley and other areas to be here. I support this issue as someone who does a strong believer of the Second Amendment. I believe thats a very important right that we have and its enshrined in the constitution. And never occurred to me that a threeminute background track to try to prevent someone who has no legal rights to a firearm that infringes on Second Amendment rights. I got together with what was probably the most painful meeting i ever had and the parents of sandy hook whose little babies were just massacred. They werent asking us to ban all categories of guns or do anything on reasonable, they said cant we make progress on a background check. We had three votes on the bill and i still supported and i intend to reintroduce it because we are to be able to keep firearms out of the hands i have no right to it but Katie Mcgintys point of politicizing everything in hyper politics drives people apart and prevents us from finding a Common Ground. Perhaps because a woman is running for president and has a longstanding issue of profound importance to become one of the more visible issues of this campaign and not equal pay for women. Pennsylvania is now the fourth worst state in the country and it faces the United States 28th in the world. Theres something called the paycheck paycheck fairness act that would require businesses to explain why wage gaps exist between them. Five times you have voted to reject the paycheck fairness act. Are we to think that accurately describes how you feel about a womans right to make as much money as a man. The fact is, ive grown grown up and then blessed to have a family with strong women that i admire a lot, starting with my mom, my Three Sisters all of whom have worked very successfully. My wife who had a wonderful career before we got married and ive got a 16yearold daughter. You Better Believe that i want her to have every opportunity and to be compensated as well as my son might be someday. The fact is, the legislation that you alluded to has something for the trial lawyers and not something that would actually make progress. I supported legislation that makes it illegal to discriminate on the gender of a worker. I voted for legislation that makes it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who share information about their pay and i feel very strongly that women ought to get every opportunity in the same level of compensation is meant. Were going to move on. I believe this country was founded on a basic bargain. You work hard, you get get ahead. The truth is, families and women , women and families are working as hard as they know how. Two jobs, three jobs, but they are keeping up with the cost of childcare, the cost of college and just needs that every family has. I believe we need to honor hard work so yes i am for increasing the minimum wage and enabling families to provide for themselves. I know for insurance that a woman doing the same job is able to bring home that same paycheck families need income so they can support themselves. He agrees with donald trump that the problem in this countrys people are are making too much and thats not what i see about out there. This helps the families needs and i will fight for those families. Your opponents believe you were handpicked to run for the senate by the democratic regime and will be a rubberstamp for the leadership and Hillary Clinton should she be elected president. I think we all agree voters like an independent voice. Can you tell us about one issue where you disagree with your party or your potential. I do stand with secretary clinton because she is focused on standing up for families and rebuilding the middle class. I think it would be helpful this late date of senator toomey would let voters know whether he is voting for donald trump or not. We will get to that, but im asking you. Sure, i have one witness test and serving the people of this common wealth, any issue, any idea, any idea, does it serve our interest as a state in the families working hard in the state. There are some issues i disagree with secretary clinton on. I agree it was wrong to set up Guantanamo Bay. We know that has been a tool that has been used against us but i cant say we should close Guantanamo Bay because im concerned that they would return to the battlefield against us, but i know this, secretary clinton will fight for working families and thats what im going to do as well. You been taking little feet on whether or not you will support donald trump. I know you been waiting for this moment to say whether or not you will vote for the nominee of your party. Is it yay or nay. Unlike Katie Mcginty, i am not a hyper partisan reflective ideologue who thinks he has to give blind obedience to his partys nominee. Katie mcginty does that, i dont. There are a lot of things that concern me a great deal about donald trump and ive been very public about it. Ive criticized him repeatedly, publicly because i think he has said some terrible things. I think he has taken badly flawed positions and i acknowledge that the nominee of my party is flawed. Katie mcginty is blindly obedient to Hillary Clinton. She can acknowledge a single flaw in what is on the democratic side, the most badly flawed candidate in decades. She cant even acknowledge the dishonesty that we see from Hillary Clinton on a regular basis. Maybe thats because she began her own campaign with a lie about her own background claiming she was the first and her family to go to college when she knew her older brother had already gone to college, graduated and came back here for graduate degree before she even graduated from high school. Maybe its Katie Mcgintys problem with the truth that allows her to overlook Hillary Clintons chronic lies. So i guess that means you havent been waiting for this debate. In one second if you would. Now, senator, you know there are detractors of yours that will say youre not completely disavowing trump because you need his supporters to win the election. I have refused to them doris donald trump and Katie Mcginty says that supporting donald trump and that doesnt make any sense. Donald trump is a badly flawed candidate as i said. He would probably sign a deal repealing obamacare which we need and he would probably put sanctions back on around which we need. If Hillary Clinton was president we would have a doubling down on all the dangerous policies that have weakened our economy and Katie Mcgintys supports. Like a lot of pennsylvanians, they feel like i cant believe in a country of 300 Million People we have these two choices and Katie Mcginty cant acknowledge a single flaw in the nominee of her party. Im not going to badger you to Say Something youre not going to say, but duck to think your constituents deserve to know if you are going to support the nominee of your party . I think they care much more about if they have policies that will grow the economy and keep us safe and thats the contrast. You want to Say Something. I do. Hes in a class of his own on this issue. Hes the only person running for United States senate that has not leveled with no not they say has differences and disagreements with donald trump but in other parts of the states, what we hear is how excited he will be to confirm President Trump Supreme Court nominee. Other parts of the states you hear him saying he thinks donald trump has put forward incredibly constructive ideas. In politics, the definition of courage and character and doing whats right even if it cost you votes. You have failed that call. This debate is statewide katie, sorry sorry if you didnt know that. Lets move on. Mr. Toomey, the First American has been killed trying to recapture mosul from isis. Last february you appeared to reject that the war against isis would never require boots on the ground beyond our current advisory role. You said we have to recognize that the u. S. Military has capabilities that no one else on the planet hasnt for going to be successful in this its going to take american presence. Will it be necessary to send Ground Forces and would you vote yes. I dont think its going to take and i dont would be a good idea to launch a large scale and visionary force. Think we need the men and women that dont have the capabilities that the iraqis have. I dont think they shouldve ever been pulled out of iraq and perhaps we wouldnt be pulled in this situation. Medical evacuation, technologies that the iraqis simply dont have a we must defeat isis. I think an even bigger mediumterm threat for us in that region is the rise of a land which is a direct result of president obamas very mistaken policy. This deal which in dangers of us and which Katie Mcginty fully supports, what they oppose right now is a very, very Serious Nuclear arms Ballistic Missile capable this is very important. Do you believe americans should be deployed to the front lines to fight isis . The american contribution on the ground should be that of special ops, sophisticated, leadership. Its imperative we defeat isis. I believe that means our airstrike is supporting the support. We need to cut off their access to oil assets. We need to take them on on cyberspace as well. He hasnt shown up for many of the key hearings and meetings in the senator has missed some 90 of the Key Committee hearings on our Critical National security issues. When the have shown up, his votes have been in the direction for example voting against legislation that move forward enclosing some loophole. The senator voted against not once but twice that allows terrorists to buy guns in our country. There is a Federal Reserve economist who just a week ago said the longterm Economic Growth in this country could actually settle at 1. 5 for years to come, new normal. That would mean slower Economic Growth, fewer jobs, wages and standards would increase or even fall in absolute terms. What would the blue print be . I think people need to have job training and apprenticeship programs. We need to have skills developed so we can put people back to work in jobs like rebuilding our infrastructure. It is part of the reason that we do need to pay people a decent wage and allow people to engage in the workforce by helping them with the cost of childcare, for example. Ill tell you, we know Small Businesses are the engine of Economic Growth and job creation and thats why learning that senator tim to me have launched a bank, his bank has foreclosed in such a predatory behavior against Small Businesses right here in pennsylvania, killing jobs, hurting those businesses that senator toomeys own Bank Practices are literally considered illegal and predatory in 30 plus states. Thats a track record of yes, hes working for himself and his own profitability but he has certainly hurt those Small Businesses that were creating good jobs. I want to talk about the Small Business background and how we get this economy going. She just raised this and she said something that was really shocking hypocrisy. She was referring to a legal device referred to a confession of judgment. She had scripted ads that have gone on tv attacking me because of a bank using this. Those ads were taken down today because they are so blatantly dishonest. Theyre off the air, across across the state because of the lies. Its worse because the fact is, when she was the secretary of the dep, she threw the dep, use the exact same device on their own credit extension. She has the nerve to attack me for what a a bank did that i was an investor when she was using the exact same investment herself. This is what people are disgusted about in politics. People like her would be so hypocritical and just wont tell the truth. you have taken time away from opportunity to answer that question a night on the time to answer the questions about the economy so maybe you can figure a way to put that in later in the debate. Mr. Toomey, in june of these are the Pennsylvania House approved a bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy instead of the current 24. Proponents of the bill say it is necessary to prevent a business from feeling pain during abortion. Opponents say it is a relentless effort by a republicancontrolled legislative body that is 82 male to limit a womans legal right to an abortion. What do you say . Heres what i say. This is really tough issue and are good people on both sides of this issue, jim. Good people that are closer both sides of this issue. The reason its tough is because it pits two competing values. On the one hand theres the valley of personal autonomy thats very important to all of us. On the other hand, theres the import of the sanctity of innocent human life. Windows to clash, for me i can doubt on the side of life. Im prolife. I accept that under particulaparticula rly excruciating circumstances like a rape, incest or life of the mother i would accept exceptions in this case because they are so so tough. What i think we have to do as a society is see what can we find Common Ground on a really tough issue. So theres long been a consensus on a couple of things. One, you dont perform an abortion on a baby thats about to be delivered. Someone that is very far along, a sevenpound baby girl kicking in her mothers womb. A Katie Mcginty is perfectly fine with the. Theres no point in which an abortion should be unacceptable for. The other point is weve agreed for decades we dont use taxpayerfunded to pay for these abortions because of the difficulty of this issue but again Katie Mcginty disagrees with that. Ms. Mcginty your response. I do stand for the rights of women to make incredibly difficult decisions that are medically complex, privately with her family, with her doctor and in conversation with her god. But you know the sender painted gruesome picture. Let me just say i got a call just a couple of weeks ago from a gentleman from southwestern pennsylvania. That gentleman shared a story that just underscores for me, this is a decision for parents, for families not for politicia politicians. The room was painted. The baby furniture was purchased. The teddy bears were purchased, and it was very late in his wifes pregnancy when a terrible condition with the baby was understood. And had to make an excruciating decision to terminate that pregnancy. So now, this should not be about politics, and your position on this has been decidedly out of the mainstream join with donald trump in saying that women whether doctors should be jailed for having to make these excruciating decisions. Thats not right. We are going to take a one minute break. [applause] we will take a one minute break and be back live in 60 seconds. It is the debate at a military, welcome everybody but we are back live at Temple University, the date between pat toomey and Katie Mcginty one of the highest Profile Senate Races in the country. We have invited our candidates to come off the podium for this segment. One has anyone has decided to stay im going to join you. Thank you, sir. We are going to start with a question that was sent to us on twitter, and we can start with ms. Mcginty. This is from matt, and it should be on the screen. You we go. How will you proceed with a future stalemate over filling a Supreme Court seat like we are facing now . Welcome back, everyone. I would start by doing my job. The constitution says clearly that it is the job of United States senators to consider, to advise and consent on judicial nominees. Unfortunately, senator toomey has joined the cabal that now has made it to store coal milestone thats not a proud one. The longest extent of time that a nominee has been hanging out without an appropriate hearing. This is not the first time senator toomey has been harshly and determinedly partisan about a position and needs to be about politics. Not long ago he singlehandedly held up for some 400 days judge lewis, and recently put president obama on notice about another nominee, Rebecca Hayward from allegheny county, that the senator would not even meet with their even meet with her, was not allowed to proceed toward hearings. I would do my job. Lets get to work. Lets have hearings and review of these nominees that we are supposed to do. Mr. Toomey . This is another one of those confused the first in a family to go to college stories. I supported the judge all the way through the process. Heres the thing. The Supreme Court prior to passing Justice Scalia was roughly balance. There were decisions that conservatives like me like like the heller decision. There were decisions that liberals like Katie Mcginty like like the obamacare decisions. With his passing, the question arises with a court be imbalance or will it swing to the left or the right . In the heat of an election, with the new president coming in and just a few months, this is an opportune to let the next president decide. And so that is my judgment. That the talk of a we should do. I will take a backseat to no one for the work that ive done in confirming judges for the federal bench. Senator casey and i working together in the features ive been in the senate, we have confirmed 16 federal judges. 16. Mostly democrats because thats the nature of the arrangement when theres a democrat in the white house. But i worked with senator casey to recruit and then from 16 justices to the federal bench more than any other state in union except california and new york. Questions from students at temple. They are video question. The first one comes from morgan. Mr. Toomey, you answer first. College debt is a huge concern among College Students across the nation. How would you plan to reduce the student debt for all students . So college debt is a big problem. I grew up in a bluecollar workingclass family. We couldnt afford the tuition for college and so what we did was what a lot of families do, it was a combination of pell grants, Student Loans and working my way through school. Thats a my brothers and sisters and i were able to go to college. I think that combination is what makes sense. I supported pell grants and increasing pell grants. I voted for legislation that would put a cap on Student Loans. I think it has to be a shared sd responsibility students needed are some of the burden for the education that is going to help them to earn more over the course of their life. The most important thing we can do is make sure a graduating student has a great job opportunities. Katie mcginty is doubling down on all the failed policies of the Obama Administration, dont create the opportunities that allow students to have income to pay off the student debt. Thats something weve got to change. Its an interesting story from senator toomey, however the record is quite different. Here are things we can do right now today to bring down the cost of college. Weve got low interest rates. Lets let families refinance their Outstanding College loans. Senator toomey voted no. Im glad senator toomey that you benefited from pell grants. Unfortunately, you voted to cut 90 billion out of that program, even though 300,000 of your own constituents depend on that program, and middleclass families are struggling out there. Bipartisan legislation that enabled an extended middle class tax cut to the families could afford college and send it to come against that critical legislation. Look, college is an important piece of enabling families to the skills and the opportunities that they need. We can get this done. I was proud working with Governor Wolf by the way to restore funding for our public colleges and universities and we made a deal with president of the and universities. You get more state money, you have to put a lid on the cost of college. Our next question comes from from eagleville pennsylvania. We are talking that a freshman majoring in bioengineering. Lets look at the question. My question is do they caution that in this election is how we make sure hardworking americans who do hard work and their fair share will have a job in the future . How can we make sure our economy is doing well and that it continues to do well for future generations . Thanks for that question. Look, i think we have huge opportunities. I meet with ceos of Small Businesses and big businesses, and they say they need skilled workers today but weve gotten away from things i job training and apprenticeship programs and i would step up and support that. Senator i proudly stand with secretary clinton Singh Community college ought to be part of the high school extended certification and job training experience. I support making Community College available. Another way kids and funds can afford college. When we have those skills i am proud when i secretary of Environmental Protection to put those skills to work. We brought 3000 jobs in Renewable Energy manufacturing here to pennsylvania. Unfortunately, snow to me, if its not fossil fuels dirty energy, hes not for it. He worked to kill the tax credit that kept those 3000 jobs here. Follow the money. One of the single biggest recipients of Big Oil Money in the United States congress. Follow the money. The 3000 jobs Katie Mcginty brags about came because she final pennsylvania tax dollars, your money, to a Foreign Company to come here, set up a subsidiary. They been rewarding our very handsomely. She became a multimillionaire by serving on the board of this company, rewarding her for your money going to them. Then they folded up shop at every pennsylvania workers lost their job. Pennsylvania taxes love someone but it worked out okay for katie. She became a multimillionaire. Thats very nice. Thats how you grow an economy. The other we dont grow an economy is by repeatedly raising taxes on the middle class. Katie mcginty is raise taxes on middle class in every judges held in government. Which is chief of staff for tom wolf they proposed a massive tax increase come income tax sales tax, the biggest tax increase since the creation of the income tax. The fact is we need lower taxes. Thats what ive been working on since i got in public life and we need to push back on the crazy overregulation thats holding our economy back. That will help create the jobs into the prosperity we have been waiting for. John harris is a freshman here at temple and his major and secondary education and yes, this question. Mr. Toomey, first to answer. What i going to do to Bring Green Energy to pennsylvania rather than focusing mainly on coal and fossil fuel energys spirit i think the question was about green energy. My question on energy is whatever makes economic sense is what we are to have. If it makes economic sense to at windmills in some parts of the country actually does, vanessa we opted you. But Katie Mcgintys strategy is the massive taxpayer subsidies to subsidize inefficient sources of energy that makes no economic sense. That makes us more poor as a country. Even all the up front just isnt enough to keep them going. She wants you to have to continue an ongoing subsidy to these companies thats called the wind production tax credit that forces your tax dollars to go to people who cannot produce energy efficiently. Taxpayers lose the economy loses, ago in pennsylvania has a higher electric bill thanks to Katie Mcginty because she forces companies when she was the secretary to buy inefficient expensive sources of energy. That just doesnt make sense. As Technology Advances we will have the ability to generate ever more electricity from the sun, from the wind. As that happens it will be available and we will buy it. In the meantime we should stick with lowcost energy because thats what i think its interesting that senator under and the senator should say, billions of dollars every year of tax breaks to big oil. I dont know about you but i think exxonmobil can afford to pay a few bucks in taxes. And lets talk about taxes because as his whole campaign has been its based on things that ended in Fact Checkers have repeatedly chastised the senator because his ads have been untrue, false, misleading. Heres the real tax record for senator toomey. So far out of the mainstream, senator toomey has said repeatedly that his you is that the answer is that we eliminate all Corporate Taxes. Thats 473 billion the year giveaway to his buddies in big business. They have rewarded him handsomely as he is one of the single largest recipients of cash from them but who pays the bill . The senators bill would increase taxes on middleclass families by 3000 a year, even as his vote against tax cuts for middleclass families for college. You have an opportunity to talk about taxes when we come back. We also want to thank our students have supplied their questions and also on social media and well take a quick break and then we will be back. [applause] we are back live on the campus of Temple University. We are having a good discussion. I hope you feel that as well. As for the candidates, as this then good for you so far . I wouldnt have missed it for the world. [laughter] i would ask a quick question of both of you. Im just looking for some quick impressions. You dont have to take the full minute. Close to 100 million has been raised for this campaign and most of that money has gone to Television Ads across the state. It seems most of those ads have been harsh, bitter attacks against your opponent so heres my question. When voters hear this bad stuff about each of you for months, every time they turn on the television, doesnt that contribute to the general sense of distrust in and this case for politics and government that weve been hearing so much about recently . Theres no question theres been a Staggering Amount of money spent and a Staggering Number of ads. Katie mcginty will decry cities united but shes a big beneficiary of the. Theyve been spending far more on her behalf than they have against me. I suggested that as a way to fight back against this we have five debates across the commonwealth. Five debates so we could get into more in depth discussions rather than these 30second soundbites. She refused her chances it ought only to. But look i dont think its fair to thank everybody with the same rotter brush. Theres only one person in this campaign whose ads had to be taken down because they were so flagrantly dishonest. Thats Katie Mcgintys ads. That makes a difference. And, frankly, kadi tends to deny many of the things shes done. Go to my website and you can see we have document the facts that shed stripped of the ad that had to be taken down. We document the dishonesty that is really been a problem in this campaign. Jim, what is dishonest of what the senator has just said that theres actually only one candidate on the stage who had to take his ad down. That was senator toomey. By camping is had to take no ads down. Theres only one person standing on this stage who repeatedly ended in Fact Checkers have said that senator timmys ads are false, misleading. And no wonder, the senator doesnt want us to look at his record. And record it on a bank foreclosing on his own constituents. Look, lets talk about money and politics. I am proud to into was that of an Organization Called into citizens united. That is dedicated to giving this dark secret unaccountable money out of our politics. Snorting had a chance to vote on just about and voted against overturning citizens united. And no wonder. Senator toomey has more money coming in from organizations like the Koch Brothers than just about any candidate in the country and he is 100 voting record doing the bidding of organizations like the Koch Brothers. Im not sure your respective edges of the much to eliminate distrust. [laughter] but lets go on. Ms. Mcginty, the Washington Post, and this is serious, the Washington Post did a study of all lease in both shootings in 2015 and found that black men to represent 6 of the population accounted for 40 of the unarmed men shot to death by police. I think we all agree that the vast majority of Police Officers are extraordinarily brave and noble men and women. But do you think that these numbers show that there is institutional bias in Americas Police department . Weve made a lot of progress as a country in terms of taking on racism and discrimination but we by no means have always succeeded in eradicating racism and discrimination from our society. Let me say my faith tradition, i am happy to say black lives matter, because from where i stand we recognize the dignity of a person we are all lifted up. When any person is denied dignity, we are taken down. I say but also as a daughter of a policeman who reviews the work of Law Enforcement. Our family would say goodbye to that in the morning, didnt know if he walked his beat would he be coming back on. Thats what ive move forward to say lets give our police force the equipment they need, double the Community Policing program and make sure the equipment and resources to be active in the community. Senator toomey has pushed a punishing the police bill that would strip Law Enforcement of critical resources. I know that works come a Tea Party Point of view, taking a Government Program away, but it hurts our safety, security at our communities. Excuse big do you think is institutional bias in some of our Police Department . I think we still work to do and i agree with your assessment. I think with good men and women only ought to look into her own heart. We have not eradicated racism, discrimination, sexism. Thank you very much. Jim, theres no question that there are bad apples in any walk of life, any profession has some. Ive seen some of the house of young black men being shot under circumstances that are very, very disturbing. And i immediately called for a federal investigation and Holding People accountable when for any wrongdoing. But have absolutely convinced that the vast majority of policemen and a lease women across this commonwealth and our country are not racists. They are trying to do the very best they can to protect us. And the problem with the black lives Matter Movement and Katie Mcginty propagating this is just that phrase itself is meant to impugn the integrity of the police by implying that they dont think that black lives do matter. And, in fact, its my view that all lives matter and i think police get that. I think police get that ladies and gentlemen, please, please. I will simply finish by observing that i respect and honor the years they Katie Mcgintys father spent on the Philadelphia Police force. But the Philadelphia Police have endorsed me in this campaign, as have every other major Police Organization in the commonwealth. Lets talk about obamacare. Come on, guys. Please. Youve been great until now. Come on. Millions of americans are irate that their premiums and deductibles have gone up under the Affordable Care act. Proponents explain, proponents of obamacare, explained that much of the hike in premiums is due to the fact that Insurance Companies can no longer deny americans with preexisting conditions and cannot charge higher rates based on Health Status or gender. My question is do you dispute that and how do you bring costs down while still ensuring highrisk americans who could not get insurance before obamacare . Gym, first of all know, thats not whats causing the problem. The pub visits fundamentally flawed in its design. We were sold a whole bill aboods about that bill from day one. We were told if you wanted to keep your Insurance Plan you could keep it. When they neither systematically forbidding whole categories of interest whether we are told if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. Now, you cant. The new Insurance Plans were designed to exclude doctor the people were very satisfied with. We were told the average that would save 2500. Its the exact opposite. Costs have gone through the roof. Today its in a death spiral. Is collapsing. 40 of pennsylvanians in the individual market have only one choice and you cant fix this by tweaking around the edges because its based on a fundamentally flawed decide which puts the government in control of something that ought to be determined by mom and dad sitting around the kitchen table, not a federal bureaucracy. So what i think we got to do is repeal of obamacare completely, having transition for people are currently receiving subsidies. But move in a direction where individuals ms. Mcginty . My question is where is the senator bennet what hes been in washington for 18 years. This is obviously a critically important issue. Where is your legislation, senator, to make sure you bring down the cost of prescription drugs, for example, parks where your legislation to make sure that people have a full choice in the doctors that they get to see . I would take action. I think it is important that people not lose their Health Insurance because of preexisting conditions. I think it is important that when i kick people off of Health Insurance because they have a chronic disease and they get a cap. Weve got to bring the cost down and there are things we can do. I will do that the senator would not. First and foremost we have to take on big pharmaceutical companies. We are the only country in the world where federal law prohibits us from negotiating down the cost of prescription drugs. With a consequence that we pay sometimes 10 times as much for the very same drug. I will take that on but the senator is a little too close to big pharma, big insurance, et cetera. Cable complaint is do nothing to fix this urgent problem. Lets talk about iran. You have expressed your complete support for the nuclear deal with iran. Since the deal was signed iran has fired forward Nuclear Capable of the state missiles, to with the words israel must be wiped out written on them in hebrew. The u. N. Secretarygeneral ban kimoon said the missile launches were not consistent with the constructive spirit of the nuclear arms deal. Iran has also held 10 american sailors hostage at gunpoint. Has any of this ever given you pause that maybe the Iran Nuclear Deal wasnt such a good idea . I think your site underscores the fact iran is not a friend of the United States. Thats what it was absolutely unacceptable that iran could be allowed to gain nuclear capability. In my analysis yes the agreement that was on the table was the best way to ensure that iran would not have nuclear capability. However, ive also been very, very clear that we cannot tolerate any violation of either the nuclear deal itself for other u. N. Resolutions including with respect to Ballistic Missile tests. Ive been public and calling on the administration of tough sanctions. What we can do is what snort to me has been. He missed 90 of the Key Committee meetings and hearings on this issue. Number one. Number two, when he did show up he voted in directions that make asp less safe. Voting against closing loopholes in our visa waiver program, voting against closing the post that allow terrorists to fight crime in our country. Appreciate your response. Mr. Toomey, you now unfortunately we no Katie Mcginty was dishonest about her family story. She was dishonest lately about the ads coming down and now shes being dishonest about my record in congress. Look, it was a terrible, terrible failure of judgment to give 150 billion to the worlds number one state sponsor of terrorism. And by thand by the way, as we r here this evening every in parliament has not ratified the agreement. No iranian government officials have signed that agreement or they dont consider themselves bound by that agreement the Katie Mcginty thinks this is awful and. Its not fine. They are launching Ballistic Missiles that are precisely designed to carry nuclear warheads. Ask yourself if their intent was to abandon the pursuit of Nuclear Weapons, why would they spend millions developing the ability to deliver Nuclear Weapons . As i said before, this is part of the very, very disturbing pattern by the administration to essentially grant hegemony to this iranian access the extensive afghanistan to the mediterranean is entitled hostile to the United States. They want Nuclear Weapons assume. That will probably trigger a nuclear arms with the sunni arab countries but this was a bad agreement. I need a response in about 35, 40 seconds because were coming to the end. Mr. Toomey, i watched immunity you did on cbc in 2007 when you pull for the elimination of all Corporate Taxes. He said lets not tax corporations. Let them compete most aggressively on the global economy. If you have your drugs would you get rid of Corporate Income tax . No, i wouldnt. That wasnt in our for what alqaeda can be a civil message. The message was of this. You can raise taxes on business if you like but who ends up paying . And have a Printing Press in the basement. If you raise taxes, then it into being paid by the customers of the business who buy the products at higher prices. My point is we should have a simpler tax code. This thing is unfair, loaded with corporate welfare, the kind katie likes the chicken rewarder preferred companies and industries. I dont think thats right. I hate corporate welfare what we certainly should not do is all the middleclass tax increases that Katie Mcginty has abdicated, including income ms. Mcginty, you have called for raising the ceiling on income for Social Security taxes from 118,000, to 250,000. You are supporting the democratic bill that calls for. 2 payroll tax increase to fund extra personal and family. You say you would not support any middleclass, ma an increase in middleclass taxes. Ive been very clear that i dont support any increase in middleclass taxes and, in fact, my whole campaign has been about putting forward tax cuts for middleclass families. He is on record repeatedly saying he would eliminate all Corporate Taxes. He is on record repeatedly pushing legislation that would cut taxes for millionaires 300,000 while increasing taxes on middleclass families by 3000. [overlapping conversation] that is all the time we have right now for questions and answers. You each have 90 seconds for closing statements. I think theyve got something they want to say. By random draw, Katie Mcginty goes first. Thanks to you and everybody for joining us and tuning in. This country was based on a basic idea and bargain. If you work hard, you can get ahead. That was certainly the story in the mcginty family. No complaints, you pick yourself up by your own bootstraps, all 10 of us kids but when we were being raised, if you work hard, you could pursue your dreams. Now when i speak out there and every part of this commonwealth is that people are giving their all with pride and dignity and trying their best but those bills are tough to pay. You see in this debate here i will go to bat for working families and for the middle class area and frankly for the very same families that senator toomey has left behind, foreclosing on them in a predatory fashion while he made money at his own banks. Trying to take away our earned Social Security and handing that over to wall street. Refusing to stand up to china when china doesnt play by the rules and takes their manufacturing jobs away. This i know. We have a very Bright Future if we give people the tools to succeed, no handouts. These schools. College thats affordable. Job training and apprenticeship programs. If we do that, no one can compete with the american worker. Im Katie Mcginty, thank you for having me here tonight and i asked you for the honor of your boat and support in this election. [applause] thanks very much. First let me say its been an extraordinarily honor to have the privilege of being a United States senator from pennsylvania for the past six years. You heard tonight there are substantial differences. If you want someone who will be a rubberstamp for a Hillary Clinton administration, Katie Mcginty is your candidate. If you want somebody whos independent and will criticize the president when hes wrong from whichever party, i will be your candidate. 80 mcginty and i differ on security issues, you heard her defend the Iran Nuclear Deal which i am certain is a bad deal for the United States red shes the supporter of sanctuary cities which endanger us in our own communities but our differences are probably as stark as anything on economic issues. I have met with families across this commonwealth. Ive met with people who wonder why this economy isnt working for them. Why is it some people are doing fine if theyre a multimillionaire like katie and they got a lot of assets. Those assets have gone up in value but the hardworking families in and across this commonwealth have been falling behind and its because of the failed policies of washington. Overspending, massive deficits, doubling of our nations debts and too much relation, is it any wonder where not getting the prosperity we need . Katie mcginty would double down on all those policies. I want to move in a different direction to begin creating jobs and creating the standard of living weve been waiting for. Id be grateful for your vote on november 8. [applause] that concludes tonights debate. We would like the candidates for appearing tonight, and would also like to thank our host, Temple University and would like to thank you for watching tonight. Im jim gardner for action news and we leave you with these final words from the league of women voters. Im president of the league of women voters of pennsylvania. On behalf of our League Members and the voters of pennsylvania i extend our sincere thank you to the candidates and to our moderator jim gardner for providing this opportunity for pennsylvania voters to see the candidates for u. S. Senate and to hear their stance on the most important issues facing our commonwealth and our country. And now, it is your turn for your voice to be heard. Election day is tuesday, november 8. Make sure you go to the polls and vote. It is your right and your civic duty. [applause] we hear from the republican president ial tickets later today with remarks from five president ial nominee mike pence , indiana governor appearing in what has become a battleground states, utah. Watch that live at 5 30 eastern here on cspan2. The health and Human Services department announced this week the average Health Insurancepremiums for 2017 plans healthcare. Gov row 20 sought five percent compared to 2016. However, subsidies will also be going up. Secretary Sylvia Burwell will speak about the increases today live from the Georgetown Institute of politics and Public Service starting at 6 pm eastern on our companion network, cspan. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is making a rare appearance today at the heritage foundation. Hes expected to talk about constitution and democracy live at 6 30 p. M. Eastern here on cspan2. Cspan brings you more debates from key us house and senate races. Today at seven, live on cspan, democratic punishment Chris Holland and republican kathy flake a debate for the Maryland Senate seat and that nine, live on cspan, the iowa Third District congressional debate with representative david young and democrat jim bauer. At 10 on cspan, a debate for the Florida Senate between florida senator marco rubio and democratic congressman patrick murphy. Live it eastern, republican senator kelly ayotte and democratic governor Millie Kaplan debate for the New Hampshire senate seat. Now until election day, watch key debates from house, senate and government races on the cspan network, cspan. Org and listen on the cspan radio. Cspan where history unfolds daily. Wral hosted a North Carolina governors debate featuring pat mccrory and challengers democratic attorney general roy cooper and libertarian lon cecil. Candidates were asked questions on a variety of topics including the controversial law hb2 which prevents transgender people from using the restroom consistent with their gender identity. From earlier this month, this is an hour. Voters will soon decide who will lead our state for the next four years. Tonight on wral, we hear from the candidates running to be your next governor. Where they stand on carolinas biggest issues and what they want you to know before you cast your ballot. Thank you for joining us for the final debate of the North Carolina governors race, im David Crabtree with laura leslie and we welcome the candidates, lon cecil, ron cooper and pat mcrory. We will ask them to share their thoughts on a variety of topics including relief, the economy, education and h. B. 2. Before we begin, heres background on the candidates. Libertarian lon cecil entered politics in 2010 when he ran for North Carolinas 12th congressional seat. Hes originally from oklahoma and served in the army. He has never held elected office. Democrat roy cooper is finishing his fourth term as North Carolinas attorney general. He was first elected in 2000 after serving in both the statehouse and senate. He was born and raised in a county and graduated from unc chapel hill. Republican pat mccrory is North Carolinas 74th governor. His term beginning in 2013. He wasnt charlottes longestserving mayor, a record seven terms. He grew up in Guilford County and graduated from catawba college. We have many topics we would like to cover this evening and would like this to feel more like an open conversation. Each of you will have up to 90 seconds for your initial response to a topic. Theres sure to be followup and discussions and we will hope you will talk with each other. Each of you will have a minute for closing statements. Before the broadcast we drooped to see who would get the first question and that question goes first to mister mcrory, Mister Cooper and then mister cecil. One of the responsibilities for the next governor is going to be to help the state recover from hurricane matthew. If elected, what will you do to make sure that tens of thousands of people who have been directly and dramatically affected are taken care of . Mister mccrory. Thats a great question. My prayers are with the 26 people who lost their lives and their families were grieving with them. Im proud of the way North Carolina came together and responded to an unexpected hurricane. The thing im proud of of my team that i put together was not only did we have a great team that was deployed early and deployed across the state anticipating every type of hurricane scenario but im also pleased that we had enough money in our Rainy Day Fund to pay for money that we will have to have in the future to help these people recover. Sadly the attorney general just last month in lumberton which was one of the hardest hit cities spoke against having so much money in the Rainy Day Fund which would have been a huge mistake had he been governor and we not had sufficient money in the Rainy Day Fund. All of all things, the Rainy Day Fund. Its the most rain weve ever seen in lumberton in decades. Im announcing tomorrow a longterm working tax force with members throughout the east and we will look at housing because thats our number one bowl, repairing the infrastructure, water and sewer and also repairing our roads and in the short term my main goal is to get people out of shortterm shelters and into permanent housing. Mister cooper. I grew up in acounty in eastern northcarolina and its unfortunate that people have gotten hit there again. In 1999, we had hurricane floyd and it devastated eastern North Carolina. I was living in rocky mount at the time and i remember governor hunt calling and he wanted me to meet him at the airport and i couldnt get there because all the roads were flooded. As state senator and Senate Majority leader at the time i introduced legislation that provided or hundreds of millions of dollars for relief for east and North Carolina and i know what kind of rebuilding process that takes to make sure we get people back on their feet again. Ive been all over eastern North Carolina talking to people. We need help immediately but its going tobe a matter of weeks and years to make sure we get the housing , to make sure we get businesses going and this is one of the most difficult places in our state with our economy right now and governor mccrory, he knows that ive always supported the Rainy Day Fund where we got the money to be able to help eastern North Carolina before because i have supported my entire career. Opener mcrory asked for money from the general assembly, they passed a bill that provided for 500,000 to bring in h. B. 2 of all things , that was earmarked in the Disaster Relief fund and governor mcrory didnt even veto the legislation. What we need is to make sure North Carolina is ready for this. We need a strong leader who knows about rebuilding. Weve done it before. Eastern North Carolina is tough. I grew up there and we can do it again. We have to. Mister cecil. I moved here in 1997 and was immediately struck with the flooding from floyd when that came through. Although my heart goes out to all the citizens in eastern North Carolina with the flooding, i know that its just a repeat of the previous flooding and in kit indicates a lot of things that were corrected the first time. I95 was closed again. You have to learn from each flood, you have the send the money to correct the things that happened and thats going to be my account from the taxpayers one way or another whether its federal or state. But weve got to help those people and a lot of them need a lot of help everybodys talking about hurricane floyd that came through, only 17 years ago. I might add that this governor was the one who said this was going to be worse than hurricane floyd and a lot of people mocked me. I would add the attorney general said wrong, he hasnt always supported a large Rainy Day Fund. Two weeks in a month ago in lumberton he stated we have too big of a Rainy Day Fund and we need to spend more of that money on other things. And thank god we didnt have a governor that had that shortterm political aptitude to look at the next election as opposed to the next storm or hurricane that is going to hit North Carolina. Talking aboutspending money wherever it comes from, a lot of these areas that were hit this time, princeville being on , seven springs, look at windsor down in eastern North Carolina thats had its share of more than just these two storms or highway 12 along the outer banks. We see destruction happening, we rebuild. Destruction, rebuilding. Should these areas be be built again . We go to you first. That part of the longterm plan. I talked to mayor bobby jones who is one of the most remarkable men ive met in princeville. His house was underwater and we will have that discussion. If we rebuild, where and how and what methods we use to rebuild . That question needs to be asked in every area that has flooding. Thats part of the longterm plan where i will have engineers a part of this longterm committee. I will have architects, were going to have environmentalists. Were going to have people who think what is the longterm sustainable plan on how to rebuild these communities, the most tragic part of these hurricanes as it hits the people who can least afford it and thats the part that grabs my heart is weve got to do everything we can to help those people who can least afford the hurricane and make sure our plans are not putting those people in that position again. Mister cooper. The question is what kind of leader do you want to help rebuild North Carolina . What kind of governor do you want . One of the decisions that were made after floyd is we did do some mitigation and there were some places that were not rebuilt and it was a wise thing because they were flooded again but clearly we had some places like princeville and others that were hit twice and were going to have to have strong conversations about that but governor mccrory talks about people in florida, rural eastern North Carolina and here he is opposing Medicaid Expansion that could help healthcare in eastern North Carolina. Thats all 100 percent federal dollars that can make a difference in the Rural Economy and hes talking now about the people who can least afford it when weve had ways to help rural eastern North Carolina and its time we take a longterm view of this. Mister should we rebuild these areas . Some of them will be rebuilt but we need to learn from katrina. Where not rebuilding the lowest lands, were not rebuilding flat to the ground. Elevate, ensure we got transportation, build homes just like we did along the coast. Theyre built withpresumption theres going to be hurricane, the presumption that theres going to be another flood. And if they rebuild, it should be with that knowledge. Theres a lot of areas that probably should not be rebuilt area people were living there andhave lived there for many years because it was lowcost land. And it was lowcost because it was susceptible to flooding. Something we just did that you need to know and the audience needs to know that four of those people that were hurt the most, weve extended Unemployment Benefits, help with food stamps so they can get it. We cut through the demo bureaucracy and were going to be helping with other items regarding infrastructure. I have had a great relationship with president obama on emergency relief to make sure Craven County was just added yesterday after newberry and waynesboro to help more people with cash that can get these four people close and supplies and im very proud of our leadership. Mister cooper, very quickly on this and i want to move on but it seems like every time mister mcrory is making a statement you are shaking your head. He talks about extending Unemployment Benefits. He pushed legislation that made North Carolinas Unemployment Benefits the most restrictive in the country and did it on the back of working people and there are a lot of people in eastern North Carolina looking for work now and in fact, in about half of our counties, there are more people looking for work now then there were before the recession area what weve got to do is have a leader who understands that, whos going to have policies that help the working poor, help the middle class, not those at the top. Youve got a leader right here. When i came to office i inherited something from Beverly Perdue, one of roys biggest supporters and it was called a 2. 6 billion debt that North Carolina owed the federal government. We borrowed 2. 6 billion for unemployment and i continued the same program that mike easley and beverly had supported, we would be in 4 billion in debt right now. Guess what we did . We paid off the debt and now if we have another recession, if we need to help these people we now have 2 billion in reserves in case theres a downturn orin case these people need the extra benefits which ive extended. Thats exactly the strong leadership we need now more than ever, not the old leadership, spend everything youve got and put the debt on future generations. We will return to the economy in the future . We need to move on. Staying with matthew for a moment, we learned the flood waters carried some coal ash into the river at goldsboro. Alongside lastyear , allows coal ash to remain in pits just like the one in goldsboro at six sites around the state. Do we need to rethink that decision in the wake of the storm . That question for you first Mister Cooper. One of the things im going to do is governor is listen to the scientists who are providing the advice unlike governor mccrory. Governor mccrorys scientists decided that well water that for those five families was unsafe so they served a notice to to those families that the water was unsafe and governor mcrory for political reasons or the fact that he worked at duke energy or for whatever reason help them to change it and they rescinded the order. And the chief scientist in the state resigned, saying publicly that she was not going to be part of an administration that deliberately misleads the public. What we need is Public Officials were going to listen to scientists, who are going to believe what they say. Who act on that and use data and facts and dont let their political ideology rule the day and particularly when you are not being honest with the public like his administration is. When the top scientists, a nonpartisan person with a good paying job resigned and yet another scientist is saying that the governor is on the phone talking to his Public Information officer in the room, telling them to rescind this order, thats wrong and im not going to be that kind of governor. Let me allow mister cecil to answer this question in the last six months ive spent a lot of time in the eastern part looking at the low lands, going wow, i see how hurricane floyd made so many problems but the people down there were telling me that their problem is the well water. They dont have water to drink. They are fearful of even using it with their animals. Several of them commented that it was only in june of this year they started getting the bottled water delivered and the 630 that you talked about that was passed by the legislature contains a provision that they will have to put in public water lines to certain areas. And the basic date on that is by the end of 2018. To a person, they will stand there and tell me in goldsboro and snow hill and others they absolutely do not believe in any way shape or form that those waterlines will be put in before 2020 at best. Did you need to rethink the decision to leave coal ash in pits and other areas and i should point out that that plan is to be xp excavated but should we rethink it . I understand where the problem is going and the underground water undergoes things that the surface water goes. The underground water can never be cleaned. The surface water will clean itself or can be cleaned like they did with the dan river but these systems themselves are continuing hazards and the only thing we can do with that is properly mitigate them but theres a tremendous amount of ash in these things. When you start looking at it through how many truckloads have we got to hold to a pit to bury it properly, theres going to be majorhighways and a lot more trucks. Mister mcrory. Hes right about the engineering and the environmental damage. You cant move them all because you would cause more instrumental damage to our state by moving them all , each individual pit has a unique situation but ive got to correct the record, three years of false advertising by roy coopers super pack thats been running for 3 and a half years, coal ash on my hands as if i did the goulash spill in North Carolina which is ridiculous because whats ironic is i resigned from duke energy six years ago, 2008. Eight years ago, 2008 and shortly thereafter jim rogers, the ceo and chairman indoors Beverly Perdue and gave her a lot of money and gave roy cooper a lot of money in 2008 or his election as attorney general and his job is supposed to help oversight coal ash. Theres not one email during his 14 years, 16 years as attorney general where he has expressed concern about coal ash. Not one email. You only have 14 emails in 14 years, not one email or not one action taken for duke energy. Energy also i might add gave 10 million loans to the Democratic National convention which they have yet to pay back. He has received during his time as attorney general tens of thousands of dollars from duke energy and breyers energy and during that time took no action except he did approve some action during the purdue administration, an email which we have a record of which is in the public document, an email which is approved by the Attorney Generals Office which allows dukes grandfather, some other coal last pawns from further inspection which had we had the inspection, maybe dan river wouldnt have happened and second, it also allowed duke energy not to have the fine. We wanted to find them 22 million. Because of an email approved by the Attorney Generals Office and Beverly Perdue, we had to pull back that fine based on the lawyers recommendation so his lawyers know all about this. Sadly the commercials dont mention that. Mister murphy. Your question it was about should we excavate. The state legislature decided they were going to create a Coal Ash Commission made up of experts to make this decision and to the head of the senate, the republican leader of the senate said we need this commission because we are concerned about governor mccrorys ties to duke energy. And the fact that he had worked there so long. Governor mccrory sued the state legislature because he wanted sole control over this issue of what happens with the coal ash pond. Governor mccrory wants somebody looking over his shoulder. I talked about coal ash publicly. I have a strong environmental record. Ive been endorsed by most all of the environmental groups and to hear governor mccrory talk about coal ash and my record, the independent Fact Checkers said you were wrong every time you said something about that. Let me first of all, he has not refuted anything ive said about the monies is accepted, about the lack of action hes taking in 14 years, he didnt refute any of that. He changed the subject which is what roy cooper is good at doing. Ill tell you this, duke energy did not want. They wanted the Coal Ash Commission. They did not want me to veto the bill. Their lobbyists were all over the house and senate. I vetoed something they didnt want to veto because of a bad deal for the people whose water could be affected by coal ash. I had the courage to veto very important legislation and i might add, the senate did not override my veto because they read the details and they said you are right governor, this would be harmful to the neighborhood that we are talking about. s we need to move on again so we can get more topics. Our next question goes to mister cecil. Theres been a lot of the carolina comeback in this section, economic comeback since the recession ended. A recent poll we conducted shows a majority of voters do not feel they are better off than they were four years ago and 29 percent even say they feel they are worse off. What do you say to those who find themselves struggling and how do you intend to help them . When im here almost 20 years ago, the economy was running good, the taxes were high. And things were actually going quite well. It was a long downhill slide rather quickly through 2004, 2008. And a lot of people lost their jobs. I lost my job at one point. With that recession. There has been quite a bit of comeback, but its been very industryspecific. The high technologies that the more Critical Industries have done well with it, i worked with rf micro in greensboro with the cell phone industry and those related electronics and Consumer Products have come back quite well. A lot of our classic industries that we had the Furniture Industry have not come back near as much because they can still get labor and get things done for a dollar a day and they are strictly labor dependent. I think we have made quite a bit of comeback. Particularly in the last four years. I think governor mccrorys leadership and whatnot has done a good job of getting us recovered. I think they have a long ways to go. I think some of the new taxes have maybe been a little burdensome on the poor people that really couldnt afford much and to find out theyve got to pay sales taxes to get your car repaired really hurt a lot of them. Mister mccrory. What i can say is this, when i came into office 3 1 2, four years ago, North Carolinas unemployment was the fifth highest in america. The fifth highest in the United States of america, 9. 4. We had one of the greatest economic recoveries in the United States of america, down to 4. 7 percent, below the national average. After my first year they were going you still are below South Carolina. We are, our economy is so much better than it was three years ago. Is it still good enough . Absolutely not. Is there more we need to do . Absolutely. But one of the things we found out coming into office was we owed 2. 6 billion for unemployment and we were about the tax Small Businesses more for unemployment. That was the solution of the liberal democrats. The second thing is we had a 500 Million Dollars miss forecast. It was so broken, 500 million miss forecast to medicaid. We had the highest income tax and the highest Corporate Tax and business tax in the southeast. Even South Carolina was beating us. Nikki haley told me we even considered North Carolina competition anymore. We had to make immediate changes where we can keep trying the same things under the predecessor, my predecessors Beverly Perdue and mike easley, we could have kept trying those things and continue to be the fourth or fifth highest unemployment rate. We have had a great comeback, we need more but im extremely proud of what happened in North Carolina and let the progress continue. Mister cooper. Theres a recession, theres been a National Economic recovery. But North Carolina is lagging behind. You go to everyday working people whether they have seen the carolina comeback and most of them will tell you they are working harder and for less money than they were before the recession. And the statistics show they are right. Waynesboro is languishing in our state, particularly toward the middle class and governor mccrory comes in and promises everybody tax cut. He did pretty well for those at the top. He gave the corporations and those at the top good tax cuts but every day North Carolina means, many of them have seen a net tax increase and that includes Small Business. He has raised taxes on people in 67 different ways and governor mccrory is putting more of a burden on the middle class and Small Business with taxes at a time we need to be helping Small Business and the middle class and i will work to do that. I will also work to invest in Public Education which is going to be a key. The new economy with the new jobs, our Community Colleges have got to be the drivers and workforce development. Our universities have to be the centers of innovation and governor mccrory , here he is going around and talking about house bill to all over national tv. It is hurting our economy. You talk to economic developers, theywill tell you its costing us jobs, its costing us money. We need a governor who going to look out for the middle class. Let me ask roy cooper a question. Are you going to change the cuts on the income tax or the business tax and Corporate Tax that we initiated in the last three years which has resulted in a strong community. You were against them. If you want to be the next governor are you going to repeal it . And raise the income tax on every working person that gets a paycheck like mark it wasnt just forthe wealthy and believe me , you were at Goldman Sachs raising a lot of money in new york city. You know about the wealthy. It was for everyone who earned a paycheck got a huge reduction, a net increase in pay from schoolteachers to nurses toindependent business people. We were the highest income tax. [overlapping conversation] we dont need to increase taxes. We do not need to increase taxes, what we need to do is fix some of those taxes he put on the middle class in Small Businesses and take some of those taxes off them is what we need to do. Help me understand the math, if youre not going to repeal it, and youre going to change it, ultimately theres going to be a difference in theincome. Its about priorities, david. The economy, i believe the economy is going to grow. Theres a National Recovery and the economy is going to grow and over the past four years governor mccrory has made the decision when tax revenue has come in, he wants to do Corporate Tax giveaways. He wants to do tax cuts for those at the top. I want to invest in education. I want to invest in teacher salaries. You say you can do that without raising taxes. Absolutely. I did that when i was in the state senate for four years. We were able to cut taxes for the middle class. We were also able to get our teacher salaries to the national average. We need to do that again, i know we can im going to try to understand how you have it both ways. If you can do that without raising taxes it would appear these tax cuts youve criticized didnt hurt the budget. It absolutely has hurt our investment in Public Education and it has hurt the fact that he has put taxes on the middle class to help make up for it and thats what weve got to do with making our decision a priority. Let me talk real quick, i want to move on. Real quick. We lowered the income tax and guess what . We have more income coming in to help pay for the bonds which i proposed for universities and Community Colleges. We have more money coming in this year with the lower income tax, more money coming in this year with a Corporate Tax than we did three years ago. Thats incredible progress. Thats letting the economy work and then ive reinvested that money into education. Teacher pay raises, a new med school at carolina, a New Science Building at western carolina university, a new engineering facility. Its the best of both worlds. When that new money comes in again after he gets reelected, you bet that the choice for that new money will be Corporate Tax giveaways, further Corporate Tax cuts instead of investing in education. Thats what weare talking about with priorities and thats how your mathworks. I like the part about when you get reelected, i like that. Lets move on. Much has been said about house bill to in this election season. Weve heard ad infinitum about tax cuts to restrooms under the law. I want to talk about Something Else. Because perhaps the most controversial part of the law is that it excludes lgbtq people from the state antidiscrimination law and it bans local government from passing any ordinances to protect them. Mister murray, i ask you not about the restroom provisions but about the lack of its protection. Why was this necessary . First of all, it was necessary because there was a bathroom provision. Could the law have been written without this antidiscrimination . There was a concept of gender identity which was a radical concept which by the way the left brought this issue up. One of the great political scams in state history and National History is roy cooper and the mayor of charlotte brought this issue to North Carolina with a very powerful lobby with the hrc which has helped roy an awful lot and they had to add a portion of the bill said the following. You must have gender identity or gender expression in order to get into a privatesector restroom, locker room or shower in the Public Access to the private sector. Had that not been there i dont think we would have had any problem because i dont believe in any type of discrimination. Iunderstand that but help me understand because i got the legislation here. And as iread about all the people who are protected , i dont see anything about the Lgbt Community, veterans. None of that was there when roy cooper was attorney general. There has been no protections in North Carolina history at all. Or the United States history. I would support. Is there time for more . I think the Supreme Court decision regarding marriage, i think there needs to be protection of the federal level. I wrote a letter as such but i will not accept the radical changes that roy cooper and Jennifer Roberts has brought to North Carolina which, do you all even know, do you know roy what the penalty was in charlotte for someone who did not accept gender identity as the new requirements on identifying whether you were a boy or a girl . Do you know what the law said . Lets say, lets tell the audience. It was a fine. 500. And or 830 day sales tax, this is what the liberals brought a bathroom, restroom, locker room ordinance with a 30 day jail sentence. In the city of charlotte. This is what we overturned. Thats the first time i think any of you knew that. Thats why we took action. Mister cooper. This is all he can talk about. He goes over national tv and talks about this. This is why North Carolina is having problems with his reputation. He continues to talk about that. David, what people dont know about and what i think your question is trying to get to is that if a local government wants to protect people from being fired because they are gay, house bill two says you cant do that. If a local government wants to raise its minimum wage, house bill two says you cant do that. If a local government wants to provide discrimination protection for veterans and a couple of the cities have those kind of ordinances that had been wiped away by house bill 2. This is one of the reasons why house bill 2 has been pointed out as one of the most discriminatory laws in the country and why we are suffering such economic damage for it because its wrong. It writes discrimination into our law and it is wrong. The you believe lgbt people should be specifically protected under the states antidiscrimination law . X i think we need to have all people under the antidiscriminationlaw. The h. B. 2 as i talk with people around the state, they keep coming back that they dont want boys in the girls bathroom. Other than that, repeal h. B. 2 and lets get on with a reasonable discussion, look at the bill and write something that takes more than one day to get through the legislature. Mister mcrory, if you are reelected would you push to change house bill 2 to make it clear that lgbt people would be specifically protected under the states antidiscrimination law . I actually agree with that concept and ive been looking for a compromise for months on this issue but ill make a deal with him right now. If you agree to take out this gender identity and gender expression regarding access to our School Locker rooms, restrooms and showers, i will support a bipartisan effort to make sure we do not discriminate against the Lgbt Community and hiring or firing. I signed an executive order for all state employees which was buried in your newscast, was buried across North Carolina news and a National Newspaper which forbids discrimination and hiring and firing of anyone based on Sexual Orientation and i support that for the private sector area so roy, lets support that together but do not support this concept where youve raised millions of dollars to say were going to now identify gender based upon what you think you are, based on what you are. Told me understand before we get to Mister Cooper, why that matters more than an antidiscrimination policy. I dont understand your question. Why does a gender identity issue. The governor of North Carolina runs the state prison. Ive got prisoners now after this radical agenda has come to North Carolina, i got male prisoners who want to be transferred to the female prison. This is now, this is not just North Carolina, the Justice Department under the Obama Administration wants to change the official definition of gender to gender identity and charlotte wanted to add gender expression. The next governor, this governor right here is running the state prisons right now. Now, schools and the prison system, when someone has an individual situation regarding their identity and gender, weve segregated and separated those individuals and made special arrangements, thats what principals have been doing for years in North Carolina. Roy cooper, the attorney general, Jennifer Roberts have gotten together and said no. We need a state law with a threat of a prison sentence for both private and public sectors. This is what he has been supporting and is one of the biggest political cons in our state history and sadly he promoted the boycotts. The head of the Democratic Governors Association help announce the boycotts who sends has donated millions to his campaign. Thats all he can talk about but i have to address the boycotts. I have been working very hard to encourage businesses to come to North Carolina and help us fight house bill 2 because many of them has said i think were not going to, were not going to expand. Labor, for the pharmaceutical Companies Announced they were coming to North Carolina, host bill to was pat and they said we may not come now. I contacted them and said you need to come. You need to come and help us fight house bill 2. They announced because i told them we were going to fight it together that they were coming and governor mccurry like he has most every business that has opposed house bill 2, hes attacked them and even the companies who have jobs here in, they work for people in North Carolina, he is attacking them, thats bad for our economy and one of the reasons we are in this mess. Who he didnt attack, it was the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association was given him seven, 8 billion for commercials. The governor of connecticut call on a boycott of North Carolina, roy cooper who has accepted millions of dollars said nothing. Jerry brown, the governor of california. Mayor cuomo, all members of the Democratic Governors Association. This was all politics. That is flatout not true area and governor mcgrory knows, wants to talk about political contributions. He had a contributor who said he wanted something for his contribution in return. Governor mcgrory gave him a private prison contract over the objections of his staff. Hes talking about political contributions all night tonight so when you want to talk about political contributions governor, you are the one whonow has an fbi criminal investigation as a result. As attorney general, you should be resigned right now for saying that. That is absolutely not true. There is no fbi investigation and you should apologize right now. We have to move on. Our next topic is the state crime lab and Mister Cooper, weve heard a lot of talk about problems in the state but over the years you said youve inherited many of those problems from your predecessor. You have been attorney general for 16 years. Are those problems fixed and if not, why not . We still have resource issues with the state crime lab and we need need to make sure there are more scientists and more equipment and weve got a lot of work to do but this is about leadership. When i came into office, there were over 5000 rape kits sitting on local Law Enforcement shelves and there were years of shoddy investigations. We came together, put people in charge who knew what they were doing. We eliminated the backlog. We worked to help Law Enforcement straightened out these investigations and the crime lab now is convicting thousands of people. It is helping to exonerate people. This crime lab is the only one in the country that has certified scientists and this tremendous progress that has been made. We found the problem, we fixed it. We didnt blame it on somebody else like governor mcrory. Your thoughts. Im not familiar enough with the internals of the crime lab here to know completely how its working or how much its actually filled with problems. But i was asked by several different people over the past few weeks how in charlotte they got the gun, said there was blood on it and within 24 hours, the news media had the announcement that they were sure from the dna testing who the gun belong to, who was carryingit. They said but my daughters rape kit is now four months old and still no response. Apparently there is at least a lead time that needs to be looked at on all crimes. Hes saying that crime lab is fixed, you want to call your own hotline for fraud. Turn yourself in. Because the fact of the matter is, the crime lab has not been fixed as youre hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on the commercial, it is still broken. If it wasnt broken, why would the city of fayetteville now be planning to build its own crime lab . Its because they cant wait on the state crime lab anymore and thats occurring city after city, durham, greensboro, now fayetteville and other cities and thats just the facts. The two of you talk to each other about issues like this, youre the chief executive of the state. Youre the states top lawyer. It seems like you would sit down and have a conversation about whats going on there and you talk about 5000 cases, are you impugning your former attorney general mike easley that you inherited that from him . I know there were 5000 untested rape kits. Waiting for dna to be matched against and also the technology was evolving. It was, no question. So to say 5000 sounds like its this huge number which it is but the context seems to be missing. The context was is that the crime lab wasnt even testing those suspect rape kits. Were getting tight on time. I want to talk about transparency. You brought up the lack of emails coming from the Attorney Generals Office in 16 years. We have tried to get public records from the Governors Office and its been like running against the wall sometimes trying to get these. Both talk about transparency. It seems very opaque to me what we see in trying to get information to the public. Mister cooper, as attorney general, ive been told you like to talk on the phone and talk with people in your office. How can you do that as governor . Isnt there a need for a paper trail of whats happened in your office for 16 years . Absolutely, there is a paper trail. From you . Absolutely. There are thousands of documents our office has produced. I helped to write the public records law and i believe only in transparency. Governor mcrory has been stonewalling not only the media but people who asked for public records. He says he sued three times for public records that he has failed to produce. If you are elected governor, are youready to make a statement tonight that you would make Public Access, public records available within 30 days . It will be as quickly as possible and people who deal with our office at the department of justice know that we work expeditiously. We work hard to get that information out to the public and as governor, i will make certain that all of our cabinet members know that this is a directive. That they have to get this information. Mister mccrory, in all fairness i know oftentimes attorneys law firms, media, so many people come for discovery. Theyre looking for reams of information and it can overpower any office from doing it. At the same time we have waited months and months to get information. When you have folks from duke energy and the executive residence for dinner. You saw that on my public counter by the way. But roy cooper doesnt have a public, theres no information about what was discussed. I didnt take notes, ill tell you what was discussed. I discussed that i was going to veto the bill that hes now criticizing. I said i want to veto this thing, its totally unacceptable and i want to take it to the Supreme Court which by the way, the democrats and republicans on the Supreme Court supported and so did jim hunt and sodid jim martin. So when i took this to the Supreme Court, i got support from jim hunt and jim martin in my case and i won with only one dissension in the Supreme Court. Im proud of that, i sued my own republican legislature, thats how bipartisan i am. Is there a way to cut through the legalese . The dilemma im finding out in my 3 and a half, four years as governor is its not the media requests that are causing us problems, its the super packs and frankly a lot of roy coopers super pacs during the campaign season. The progress North Carolina progress, there all in the purdue, ask campaign workers. They are making more requests and going on witchhunts and we have to go through every record to ensure that there is not personnel information which would be against state law if i released personnel information so there is an issue of a middle ground. Its not really the legitimate news organizations that causes a problem, its the super packs that are going on witchhunts and they get the headlines soundly on wral and other stations of going that mccrory cant produce these documents. How would you address this transparency issue if elected . I always advocate as transparent as possible. Governor mccrory said the personal information of how the employees have to be protected. The recent law on the body camera is for the Police Address some of that and i think in a proper way its set up so that judges look at that, the judges can make the decision that it can be released. Its not up to the individual , council or town council of every little town to make those decisions. The courts have already challenge the current law and overruled those. I refused to do that. So yes, there is a phone call needed 72 hours versus 24 hours but i stop much more extreme legislation which was proposed by the senate as you well know and i threatened to veto. As one knows, you have to make compromises and account my cell 24 hour phone call versus a 72 hour phone call. Had i not done that the senate and house would have enough votes to override any veto with much stricter restrictions. I refused to cooperate. Ill tell you what im proud of. I enforce existing laws. We had an Abortion Clinic in charlotte that was treated women like theyre going to a meat market as opposed to seeing a physician with a very serious operation. A very serious procedure where they were not even mopping the floor in between abortions. It was revolting. Thank god my secretary said thats unacceptable, we need to shut it down. We agree open to them because we did not put jurisdiction have to do with actual medical care of women. I dont know where the attorney general was during the 14 years this clinic was open but its an acceptable that women treated that way in our Abortion Clinics that are legal. Mr. Cooper. At this very wral debate in 2012 when you asked Government Court if he would support new restrictions he said no. Not only to restrictions that you discussed so far. He also signed legislation that requires womens ultrasounds tb said to State Government bureaucrats. Regardless of how you feel about this issue or this policy, to have a womans ultrasound safety of bureaucrats is wrong. It is a prescription and it shows you whether you can trust governor mccrory. I dont think you can. This is one of the many issues where he has said one thing and he has done another. I just want to say bureaucrats is quite the word but in the medical professionals to ensure that doctors are following the law regarding abortions after five months. Im sure roy agrees there shouldnt be abortions after five months unless for the life of the mother. Would you support tighter restrictions . Not at all tighter. As i told many people, as a libertarian i feel the abortion is an issue thats between the patient and her doctor our the woman and her doctor and the government should have virtually no say or control in it and should minimize or not pay for it. Abortion is a serious problem to the woman. Ive got four friends that over the past 50 years have had one. It has long lingering effects. And throwing the beginning of government and their to stuart around does not help. So now for the restrictions. Im curious commute never Held Public Office in your life. Why should voters have confidence that you can run State Government . I have not Held Public Office. That also means that i dont have a long string of promises to people that are expecting me to pay back the favors. Ive had very few contributions to my campaign. No pac contributions or anything like that. I spent a year in vietnam helping to the needs understand tricky dick nixons foreign operations and how we thought the world should be run. When i left and came back to the United States i had all the publicpolicy that it wanted for a lifetime. I wanted to private industry. I got a patent in 1980 that eventually turned into the atm machines where you put in your card, the screen comes on and said what is your p. I. N. Number and you type in your p. I. N. Number, and that all references my prior art. I worked, in the 1990s to get the Keyless Entry into cars. Most of the new card you get today do have that. I have a tendency as an educator to look at what options are available, and all options first. And i think thats what is required for what is essentially a ceo position. Thank you for that. We have less than a minute before to closing statements and wish we couldve gotten education and a couple of other things. Quickly if you can give me a 10second anti. Can we move, should we move per pupil spending in North Carolina where we rank about 42nd on 43rd right now . Should we spend the money can make the commitment to do it and can you do without raising taxes . Mr. Cooper. We are 44 in per student spending in North Carolina. That is unacceptable. We have to do much more. We can do without raising taxes. My record speaks for itself. We are 48th in teacher pay, we will be down in the low 30s. Thats our next goal. Our University Spending is still very, very strong. One of the best in the nation. On that note im going to say that each candidate will now have one minute to make a closing statement. H. R. One minute to convince these voters that they should hire you to be the next governor. We will go in reverse order how it asked the first question. We begin with mr. Cecil followed by roy cooper and then pat mccrory. Thank you. I want to thank wral for hosting the event tonight. I think we will be instructive to lots of the voters and help them make their choices to go for the early voting started october 20. We have a lot of Revenue Sources in North Carolina, and i in all of them are being tapped in every way we can. But we do need more money for the schools. We need more choice for the kids in education. Only threefourths are handled well in high school. We need more online, more homeschooling, more Charter School and vocational schooling. Part of the funding of that is to perhaps tap the currently untapped resource. We have a tax law that if we go ahead and set up a medical marijuana or medical cannabis law, we can follow the lead of the states like colorado, washington, oregon and nevada. Mr. Cooper. Thanks, david and laura. All the debates are now over and its going to be up to you to decide who leads go in the next four years and who you trust to rebuild it. We are facing the worst disaster in eastern australia since hurricane floyd, and we need a governor who knows how to rebuild our communities. Weve got kids or and underfunded schools and we have many teachers leaving our state for better pay, and more respect. We need a governor who knows how to rebuild the education system. North carolinas brand has been tarnished and our economy has been damaged because of house bill two. And we need a governor who knows how to rebuild North Carolinas reputation. If we set our priorities right, North Carolina and can be one of the most admired states in this country. Im going to work hard as your governor to rebuild North Carolina. Thank you for your vote. Lets have more debates. I welcome more debates of people dont have to make decisions over multiMillion Dollars tv ads. I think this is great. Id like to more and i welcome more. I love our state. I love our people. I was so proud of her people during the coming together for again that you and i was proud of our leadership. My Leadership Team that helped in the recovery along with many volunteer agencies and many faiths organization to i was also proud of my Leadership Team for responding or weeks ago to the charlotte incident when we decide to bring the National Guard long before the mayor requested it. Sadly roy cooper was against working with the mayor at the time come in the mayors during that. I was happy to work with the police chief and coordinate enhance the powers over to the chief police or National Guard. I showed this leadership what i came to this office as the 74th governor four year years ao when im on it was the fifth highest in the country. We needed to make change. Reloaded the income tax. Reload the business tax. We increased teacher pay, we paid off our debt. Thats leadership for the future. Thanks to all of three of you. We hope that they want to make a decision on people it should be North Carolinas next governor. Early voting begins thursday the 20th, runs until saturday november 5. You can contact your local board of elections for times and voting elections. Thank you very much for joining us. Have a good night. Cspan brings you more debates this week from key u. S. House and senate races. We are back on the road to the white house later with remarks from republican Vice President ial nominee mike pence, the indiana governor in the newly designated battleground state of utah. Watch at 5 30 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. The health and Human Services department announced this week the average Health Insurance premiums for 2017 plans sold on healthcare. Gov rose 25 compared to 2016. However, subsidies will also go up. Hhs secretary Sylvia Burwell will speak about the increases today live from the Georgetown Institute of politics and Public Service. Watch at 60 eastern on cspan. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is making a rare public appearance today at the heritage foundation. He is expected to talk about the constitution and democracy. Watch live at 6 30 p. M. Eastern here on cspan2. The British Empire and its commonwealth lost for a thousand years. Men will still say this was their finest hour. We are by for the 33rd International Churchill conference in washington, d. C. Focusing on the former british prime ministers reins and contemporaries. Speakers include british historian andrew roberts, and later on saturday at seven texas General Land Office commission george p. Bush, state senator Jose Menendez and Musician Phil Collins talk about the spanish mission, the alamo at the 2016 Texas Tribune festival in austin. The memories at the time were that this group of people were going a and they knew they were going to die but they went, or they were there. Crocker went by there was something very noble and very lamented. I love that it wasnt quite as black and white and thats one of the things i think would be good in this day and age, you know, we put it into context. Sunday evening on an american artifacts macarthur is up from. Now shes not wearing a weapon. He would often lead a tax carrying nothing but a riding crop that you see in his left hand. And the men looked at this and realized hey, if the colonel and later the brigadier, if the colonel can take it, well, i can take it, too. We visit a Macarthur Marwan about the early life of Douglas Macarthur who commanded allied forces in the pacific during world war ii. And that ate the great leaders also serve as conscious in chief with the highest level of integrity, with their moral compass locked on true north so that we can always count on them to do the right thing when times get tough or when no one is looking. For our complete American History tv schedule go to cspan. Org. The aflcio hosted a Panel Discussion analyzing the role of professional athletes in advocating for racial and social justice. Speakers included Nfl Players Association and council joe briggs, Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson come and be aflcios carmen berkley. They discuss the obligations of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick protesting during the National Anthem and the role of labor unions in Racial Justice. From yesterday, this is just a short of two hours you. Good evening, everyone. You have to give me more than that. Good evening, everyone. I am carmen berkley, civil and human womens rights director at aflcio in washington, d. C. And welcome to the house of labor for those of you have never been a. On behalf of the president , president richard trumka. Today will be talking about the role of athletes and racial and social justice. For us the issue of intersecting workers and Racial Justice is work that the aflcio has been doing for over five decades, but recently and particularly since recent happenings in our world we really started Digging Deeper into Racial Justice after the mike brown incident in missouri. For us being able to talk about how workers have to deal with Racial Justice issues and how we should as unions protect, particularly people of color and the work that we do in the workplace. When i think about whats really going on in our nation, theres so much conversation about Colin Kaepernick. Well know that that conversation with athletes taking a stand goes way far back. I dont know how many of you have actually been to the africanamerican smithsonian but theres an entire section give them an applause for that an entire section starting with the most famous of athletes taking direct action with the olympics. Think about muhammad ali exhibit where he is literally talking crap. You think about the desegregation that many athletes in baseball, football and vast will have done. The women theyve been recent with the wnba. Today is not the first time. Right now in history is not the first time that athletes have taken a stand. I would be remiss if i did not say that students have been taking a stance particularly to think about missouri and new jersey and alabama, massachusetts and some of the other states where young people are inspired and theyre taking that same knee that Colin Kaepernick is taking. They are actually getting disciplined for that. So for us were really excited to have these three and credible gentlemen here at the house of labor with us. First i want to introduce my new friend Benjamin Watson. It is a tight end from the Baltimore Ravens. Off the field benjamin stays busy with his foundation, one more. Is growing family and the Nfl Players Association racers on the executive committee. Event nfl sportsman of allpro dad have been. And 2005 benjamin published his first book under our skin, getting real about race and getting free from the fears and frustrations that divide us. We are honored to have Baltimore Ravens in the house. [applause] to my right is our friend and labor activists joe briggs. He was first hired by the Nfl Players Association to manage their financial Programs Department but because hes the bomb he rose to the top to become the Public Policy counsel for the nflpa. And the first individual to lead in the opiates Government Relations department. He is a professor at Georgetown University and often speaks in subject from politics to sports come everything in between. He was also a Scholarship Athlete at texas christian earning three varsity letters as a committed student leader on campus. I would be remiss to say that we hosted an event with the nflpa a couple of months ago a rather than the concussion. So its really great to also not only and labor activist but someone who understands why we need to be working together in order to move large agenda forward. So please give it up for mr. Joe briggs as well. [applause] and finally as moderator i will give it over to dave zirin up the Nation Sports editor, the author of eight books on the politics of sports including game overcome how politics is turned the world of sports upside down. Is a frequent guest on espn, democracy now and he also hosts his own weekly exim show, edge of the sportswriter. And because the collision were sports and politics collide with former nba player so give it up for dave and i will hand it over to him. [applause] thank you. A big thanks to aflcio for having this important event, for hosting this discussion and doing it in a way that we can be finished in time for the world series. Just so folks know, im rooting for the cubs. Not because ive any great love for the cubs but theres just something about seeing a racist mascot on tv just makes my stomach turn. Im sure people up in d. C. Have no idea what that feels like. Its very disturbing to see that on camera. This is such an important discussion to have. Its in an important discussion about the intersection of sports and social justice. Its taken important to have it here at aflcio so we can talk specifically about what the role of unions are and what the rule of unions can be in this struggle. Even if there is a role for unions at the intersection of sports and politics. Sports have those been part of social justice struggles in this country. We know this. You cant talk about those of Rights Movement without talk about Jackie Robinson did you cant talk about the 1960s when speaking about muhammad ali. I believe in the future we are not going to be able to speak by the black lives Matter Movement without speaking about Colin Kaepernick. Theres a reason for that. The reason for that is that he is incredibly effective at getting his message out. You effective because hes upsetting all the right people. Anytime you now have an enemies list that includes donald trump, ted cruz, supermodel kate upton and actor rob lowe, all the intellectual heavyweights, then you know youre doing something right. And, of course, as carmen mentioned this is beyond Colin Kaepernick. Its remarkable, its from beaumont, texas, seattle, washington, to writer in Prince Georges County from volleyball teams to football teams to cheerleaders right here at Howard University all taking a knee. Leslie gives us hear from think progress and just set up an interactive graphic on the website that shows every time another anthem protest takes place and it is remarkable to see how it is for the people talk of a distinct a divided nation, red state blue state, north south, eastwest but you see one thing that is uniting communities around this country, people feel like there is a gap between what we told the flag represents and the actuality of peoples experiences. They are recognized in the public sphere of sports. Lets talk about the role of unions, social justice unionism in this struggle. So honored to be with these folks. I feel like i have come my first question is something probably isnt an argument in this room but the mere fact that theres a camera lets me know this is something we have to address, and thats the idea of its athletes, if nfl players should even be described as quoteunquote workers. And do they need unions and all the rest of that discussion that im sure people when they think of a worker, the last thing they think of is a wellpaid professional athlete. Whoever wants to start, if i could start with you joe, then go to benjamin. What the city people say you work for the nfl union, isnt that a contradiction speak with first of all thank you for having me. The first thing i usually say is these guys go to work just like everyone else. They clock in. They have to be there on time. They have to be there for a certain breed of time and have to perform and be measured by their manager. Their manager may look a little different by having on sweats. Maybe even a polo shirt. Aappetite is giving them of ther evaluation but the same things matter to them that matter to you what else has to go to work. Its Game Changing in some ways but we been able to get to people of this country to understand that the locker room is a workplace, that the football field as a workplace, and the health and safety in both of those spaces both in the locker room and in the field of play is something we need to take very seriously. We have tried to do that in every conversation weve had. The other thing i would say to them is yes, i do work for the Players Association, the Players Union but im also a union member myself in local 500 as a professor. So it makes sense to work and the Players Association because i believe in workers rights. What about you, benjamin . Thank you all for having me. After i get upset and angry and a look at them crazy and my wife says benjamin, stop looking at them like that. But i cant explain all the things that joe said. When it comes to us being workers, lik like you said we he expectations with to meet. One of the first things i learned and maybe youve heard it before but youve heard players say the nfl is that this is figured all the time. When you transfer from college into the nfl you learn what that means of what being a business really needs. You get paid, compensation but there are expectations you must meet. When you are a young player coming in, i got drafted in 2004, not understanding am just happy to be there, theres an education process that comes with understanding the business side of football. One thing we always say that in utopia, understand the business of football. All that entails, partners understand we are all from the board, players all part of the union. The National Football Players League association and that covers everything from our collective Bargaining Agreement to how we interact with management to even the latest being is how long will be on the field, what kind of grievances we could file. All of those things are covered and so its important for our membership to understand that but sometimes thats hard to explain to someone that only sees you 17 sundays out of 365 days of the year and who looks up to what you do have Something Like man, i would love to play football. I loved playing football. I love being a part of the game but as a father and as has been i understand that when daddy leaves home, daddy is going to work. That is going to provide for his family. The same way that he is in the same way that you are in the same way that somebody that drives a truck or is president of United States. They are going to provide for them and there are risks involved and thats why this book on my leg because i tore my achilles which is a risk in the hazard of going to work. Of support understand windows happen you have a union that can help you. Explain to people that the in utopia is part of the aflcio down and nfl players are certain workers. If you think about it, actors are a part of unions. You other folks that have what people consider to be a higher salary such as pilots are unionized a cubic inches to work at boeing who are unionized but at the end of the day what the brother said is its about work because first and particularly coming from a people of color perspective the are a lot of black folks who work in the nfl, as, for watching tv. Historically we are generally paid less for no matter how much work we do. At least to get you like from Equity Perspective can unions make sure that no matter what the color of your skin is, depending on the profession that your plan, no matter what gender you have, there should be some type of wage equity. Went to make sure our brother who might get hurt have health and safety but, of course, if you are working for a living and some is making money off of you, then you should be able to the collective Bargaining Agreement and be a part of the union. Washing under watching football, the we always answer that, its not even where labor. We are labor times too. I take a cook, thats labor and a cook makes state. We are both the court and the state. We are basically cooking ourselves. Every single week when i see benjamin in that would i hear what ryan is saying. Next question, maybe so but benjamin and work down to carmen is your First Impression, start as Colin Kaepernick discussion, what was your First Impression when you heard about Colin Kaepernick taking in the wafer surface explanation about why he was doing it . My First Impression was i was taken aback. I was taken aback because as an american our default position i believe is to stand for our National Anthem. Thats what we all want to be a we all know theres inequities. We understand whats going on, especially, i rode a book about it. Ive written about seeing whats happening in the streets and feeling the anger and the frustration about the things that have happened in the past, keep on happening. Having a small sliver of hope sometimes only to be dashed again when i see another video or Something Like that. When i heard he sat first for the National Anthem i want to know why did he sit. My biggest thing is why did you do it . If you did it because you want to disrespect the flag or does he pick someone or veterans, thats one thing. What he said was he did it because you want america to be better. He did it because he was not disrespecting veterans. He wasnt disrespecting anyone who served the country. He was doing it because he wanted the country to be better and thats where i identify with them. If i was playing right now i would probably not be taking a knee because that wasnt my idea but i stand everything he is kneeling for. I am with them when a person. I support his right to do so. I think the biggest thing now is athletes and as you see different guys taking a a knee or raising a fist is what we go from here. Where do we transition into advocacy . What do we need to go had we need to educate ourselves . What other conversation we need to have was with baltimore yesterday we had a town hall with all of the players. Black, white, mixed and we talked about Colin Kaepernick. We talked about policing and neighborhoods. Guys gave their experiences which some of us never even heard before. We did know were playing with somebody who had that experience with a Police Officer for whatever else it may be. You were able to hear from white players, black players, some of us disagree, some of us agree but i think that is moving into the next step of opening the conversation and thats what i love about what he did is that he opened this avenue. He opened his conversation. If we are courageous enough and able to be honest with our feelings without namecalling, we can move forward. So for athletes i think we played a vital part in moving this thing forward and having this conversation and eventually making dramatic changes. Same question for you go. Both impression of the Colin Kaepernick and another with benjamin spoke about it in terms of as you are thinking of fault on as well since you first saw him take a stand. So my first thought was this is going to be an interesting week at work. [laughter] but after i got back, my thoughts got to be a more serious. As benjamin said i waited to hear what colin had to say that would be a guy to what we would do a guide pashtun in response to Colin Kaepernick, how we would help protect Colin Kaepernick he was a member of the association to the extent this affected his working conditions and rights. I started thinking back to Martin Lee Anderson, right . Most of the people in the room probably dont remember Martin Lee Anderson. I was in law school in 2006 under member Martin Lee Anderson because at the time i was to affiliate with a law firm that i did a summer clerkship with. In the summer of 2004 i clerked with a Small Law Firm down in tallahassee, florida, indicates came across our desk in that a case in 2006 while im still working for the firm while i was at law school at Florida State with Martin Lee Anderson the my thoughts went back to me. The reason most of you dont know Martin Lee Anderson because he wasnt Trayvon Martin. He also wasnt michael brown. He also wasnt one of the people who came about the same faith that Martin Lee Anderson had after the advent of social med media. But it was a case number on the facts were a young man whos in a boot camp was strangled and killed while in that boot camp advance of Law Enforcement. I started to think back to all the other young men between Martin Lee Anderson and Colin Kaepernick decided to sit for the National Anthem that ive not only witnessed but paid attention to because of my start in my Legal Profession being at that place where i was working on a Martin Lee Anderson to third is what i thought about it. Now what do i think about and out do i feel about the players as they continue to express themselves . Im proud of and even if in some instances i havent always agreed with some of the things that have been said. I mean that by the players have said they dont understand Colin Kaepernick and the players have stood with Colin Kaepernick. To me that shows that all believe the agency which they do. Thats one of the things we should want out of for athletes because they are citizens of the United States and have rights just like everyone else. My hope is as colin continues to express himself in a way has chosen to end of the players find their voice that they will continue to educate themselves and to fill continued to find the support in the community as well as inside the locker room as the outside the locker room so they continue to grow in the way that they mature as adults and continue to be citizens of these United States. Alicia garver who started black lives matter has a famous quote issues as people love everything about black culture except black people. And oftentimes that is the reality that we have to face, is people want to make money off of us. They want to wear their hair like us. They want to spell it as but we actually have to face all of the things that we have to deal with as black people, just ask them come its true, showing up to work. Thats always harder for people. So for me i promise you just sense of pride and i felt a sense of pride because its always more powerful with athletes or celebrities stand in line with issues that we care about. He force a conversation that i feel like many people should have a need to have but were not having to enforce people who ensure work 49ers fans to see a, is this something care about . Alecia garza, cofounder of black lives matter is in oakland right from the same place, same area where the 49ers are but many people still have not had a conversation. The number one thing we do in our department is we try to empower workers of color and women and lgbt workers to say when something aint right you need to stand up. And even if the image are going to be unpopular, even if that means that youre going to face adversity at work, likely you do have a collectiveBargaining Agreement. Likely you are a part of the union and so your job is actually protected. So for me i had a huge sense of pride when i saw Colin Kaepernick do that because i said hes not being respectable. And right of people to look down at him but again a couple of days later i went over to the africanamerican smithsonian weathers an entire exhibit of muhammad ali dissenting against the tyranny. When he passed away all i could think about was you all love him today, but when he was at the height of his activism you did not love him. So you dont have to love black people, but respect that if youre making money off of us that we should be able to speak our own truth and thats what i feel like Colin Kaepernick did. [applause] when Colin Kaepernick dictate that new york many of my fellow journalists dig up the old is four words in the journalist handbook, four words that are then used by journalists as a way to silence political athletes and those four words are, shut up and play. Start with you, benjamin and go down the line. How do you respond to the shut up and let argument . I know you have heard it. That is the number one i think argument people have with athletes. Not just with athletes. Anybody whos in the public sphere whether its an actor like you mentioned before or some sort of public figures. We want you to do what we turn the tv on to see you do. Without realizing like i said before we are fathers, husbands, friends, citizens. We have the same rights that everybody else has and more important with some of the same emotions and feelings that everybody else has been we go home and turn our tv on and watch the news. We know whats going on. Its making us one dimensional which is probably the biggest i would say himself as an athlete that i felt over the course of my career is when people only want to know about what you can do on the field. And after that they do want to anything else. Its an insult. Its unfair because in all locker room for football, basketball, you have some of the brightest minds. Some of the smartest people i know are playing football in the of it or not. And they are able to express themselves unable to move the needle of whatever social change is. Thats always the first question you asked about, you talked about being an athlete. Thats probably one of the biggest misconceptions i think that i face. One of the hardest things to overcome because people want to hold their idols here and they dont like when the person they put on the platform disagrees with them, whether it be about faith or anything else. Thats something that really hurts me. People not realize how racist it is, shut up and play. I mean, i asked jon karls in 1960 only be about shut up and let and he just looked at me like i slept in and he said, why did you choose to shut up and dance . You would hear people say shut up and dance now because that would be seen as too racist. Racist. Us about shut up play the still a loud. I would agree is especially for the black athlete it probably carries a little more weight and it harkens back to a time where all we were supposed to do was perform and that was it. And be seen and not be heard. So when folks are saying, theres immediately an attack on the intellect i think. And that is the biggest thing. Weve got guys, myself, weve got degrees. All those things. So to say that the athlete especially a black athlete carries come its more of an insult but if you set it to anybody else and we feel that. I feel that when its been said to me. Joe, same question about the shut up and play, your response. Because i feel kind of look like an athlete at least in my mind. [laughter] you can play. You know, i go back to benjamins first answer when he said after he ends up being ex ante fund finds his work is able to express himself. Telling me to shut up and play issue essentially take away my agency. Like ive done nothing in my life except come to play football, 87, sorry, almost 90 of them in the National Football league have gone through three years of college education. Are we serious when we say that these men cant express themselves about a social issue that there into the aware of because outside of the uniform they look just like all the other people that are having a hard time eating with some of these issues that almost become social pariahs . I dont understand what you mean when you say shut up and play. I guess i could and should understand what you mean when you say shut up and play because while we dont talk about it in the news this year im sure next year we will spend time talking to Jackie Robinson and the 70 and diverse of in integrating baseball. Surprisingly this year being the 70th anniversary of the reintegration of football, no one is talking about it. Since theyre telling Kenny Washington and would it was okay that the shut up and they played, and i understand that thats the way we do with athletes for quite some time but i dont think that is something that we should continue to do. And my response is generally why would you say that to these men when you dont know who these men are . You dont know that theres a young man more than likely, you do know that theres a young man thats also the Baltimore Ravens at getting a ph. D in mathematics. Why would you want them to shut up and play we could solve some problem that could help everyone in the world be better to buy what you it to just shut up and play when, in fact, there are people like Benjamin Watson himself who may ride a book that touches the soul that helps the person becomes a better leader not only in his community but for us in this country. Why would you want them to shut up and play . Instead you should wanted to make sure that his mind is prepared for the moment that it gets to express itself. And in that way you didnt agency but you perhaps save us all. Briefly, it is the second anniversary next Jackie Robinson entering Major League Baseball leticia is the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color line in the Minor Leagues and getting run out of sanford, florida, on a rail because the town was so deeply racist and violent towards him and his family. He had to go to Daytona Beach and center for of course is where Trayvon Martin was killed and its were donald trump held a rally today where white people held up signs that said lacks for trump thats real. Just to point out if we dont confront racism directly, then the path will never be passed. But i do want to, comment, even though youre not, you probably dont shut up and play that much. Idea what your response spit i do sometimes spirit talk to us. Im so happy you said because you know i was going to say its a form of White Supremacy to tell people to shut up and play. At actually outside of it being told of racism i think all workers deal with this dynamic which is why the unions are so important. It might not be shut up and play to me, it might be shut up and do your job. Shut up and help the patient. Shut up and pick up the trash. Because people do not miss this want for us to come to work as her full self. People that wanted to come to work as a black woman from pittsburgh. Except when im doing all that work except when im working late hours and come in early and going outside of, and doing these extra things that make doing this work important. To me one of the reasons why i feel like its a labor really has to take a stand on this is we are protected at work so we dont have to shut up and play. When we are fighting for our collective Bargaining Agreements, what was think i want more wages come more benefits, more childcare, that is our moment to not have to shut up. So for me ever tried actually embrace what Racial Justice looks like and dismantle White Supremacy then we would say stand up and activate, as opposed to shut up and play. [applause] stand up and activate. So real quick question for joe and benjamin. People might know that the nfl is sometimes called the no fun league. Its the league that will find less incredible amounts of money for dancing in the insofar for wearing the wrong shoelaces. And get its been so fast in to see that on this issue now financial players for taking any. Very authoritative league structure, i would argue antiunion structure at the top of the info. Thats what the nfl today testify on a day in day out basis. Yet they believe the players alone. Then the players alone who read things like my kids lives matter across the uniforms when they take the field. They left that alone. So theyre all of employers with a microscope every second except on this issue the taken a step back. Its curious why. I know its a bit of conjecture but i would love to hear from benjamin and joes wife is also civic perhaps a more handsoff view that we mightve expected to these protests. I would say its more than likely because there there is e against a player not standing for the National Anthem. If there had been a rule int rue rulebook im sure they probably would have been some action on that rule. But it is my hope that this also, theres also some people at 345 park out of that understand how important this issue is that the accounts of the people that make those decisions that is probably not in their best interest to take a position thats contrary to the people that are expressing themselves in this way. Benjamin, any thoughts . I would just say that theres no rule that says we have to stand up and theres nothing they can find is for you if they could be witty. But they understand the bigger picture, so to speak. They understand how sensitive this issue is for everybody, not just in the nfl but everybody was watching. They dont want to be in a position where they are getting it from all ends, for of using a players rights, especially when it comes to the first and then rides, was covered. You want to be in place what theyre finding someone or even firing someone, and it can be proven that the reason why the person was fired was because they took a knee. Whatever you think about that, whatever your opinion is what hes doing, we cant be in a world where theyre doing that to the player or else after his own people like this. And from our unique. Unit weve had this conversation. One of the things we talked about is what happens if we can prove somebody got cut because they took a knee . We are looking to see what our steps going to be if that happens. There are some things that have happened we have to think about that. They honestly dont know what to do right now because on the one hand theyre getting people that are throwing insults, threatening to not watch games. Another big thing is, the big thing is the ratings are down. Is because of this . Theres a bunch of other factors like, president ial election going on as well so now theyre getting pressure on that and on what to do. I dont know if you had okay. One other thing that i think carmen, this is totally something i want to do that thing above a toaster with benjamin as a player because the other stereotype you off in an effort to some coaches. Ive only ever heard this from management in my sportswriting life but the ideas that a political player will somehow divide the locker room and keep the team from winning it in fact one of the players who is kneeling with Colin Kaepernick iand his decision to do so that because he believed in the idea fighting police bertelli so much as much as he was so offended with the hasbeen commentator trent dilfer said he had sources that the Colin Kaepernick was dividing the locker room. And eli said the heck with that, im taking a knee with colin. What do you to say for people who say that, wait a minute, too many players are taking a knee. It will take the minds off what matters. Even when he first did i remember doing an interview and that very question. Any organization your and you want unity so you can achieve a common culprit commonsense was okay i say okay i dont want any divisions whether it be ideology, politics, faith. Because i want my guys best prepared to win. But when you look at it, this is all about relationships. We live in a world as people we have relationships. It is fundamentally wrong to assume that guys cant differ and because of the relationships and because they respect each other still Work Together toward a common goal. I heard somebody say if one of my players did not, they would be cut. I think it was whats that old coach from indiana . Lobby night. Bobby knight. I would cut them come right . Thats interesting because what did chip kelly did what i was and by which what i was and by which it was blair who we should have a relationship with because you going through a whole offseason to get a. Say why are you using . I may not agree with you and guys in law group dont agree but with good enough relationships in our locker rooms that hey, you 53 guys on the roster and all of them are not going to agree on everything but because of our relationships we can disagree and still work toward a common goal. So as a coach my hope is that a coach would go to the player and talk to hi them about why hes doing what hes doing. Thats what we should expect battled for our coaches and our sports teams because we should expect in our workplaces when it comes to times that we dont agree with what someone else believes. We can so that common respect for humanity and still move forward to the common cold even if we disrespect each other. If the locker room was like social media the way they talk about colin, and now, it wouldnt work. Colin would have to go. Luckily our locker rooms are not what we are seeing like anyone is saying. Sounds like social media is the white of the 21st century. You can hate with anonymity. Joe, quick question as well. The unity of this you of the locker room is something thats amazing to me when i hear people outside of locker room talk about it. Anyone whos ever played organized sports are played football at a very high level know how many hours you spend sweating together and burning off calories, but getting to know each other doing drills and repeating the exercise and practice day after day, sweating in the locker room, in the weight room, growing together, bleeding together physically and literally to make a better product not only for your fans but also for your team with one common goal in mind. There are a bunch of things that come up during the course of conversations that could potentially divide and locker room but most of them are overcome by the unity you have with that common goal. Its always interesting to me the question is asked in a different way. Why isnt it asked if the fear that some of the players have to in the locker room that their life may be ended by some action of a person thats acting incorrectly is dividing the locker room that other people are thinking about . Why people ask the question that way . Because they dont really care about it, right . But in the locker room if i sit next to benjamin and benjamin sat next to me, we have conversations about everything thats going on with us. In many instances like he said today, theres some things we dont share with each other but there are other, things that happen in the course of our lives that we dont have to talk about. Its just a common shared experience and i think those things carry over these moments like the Colin Kaepernick whether decided to new or not. They know who he is in the locker room and assure anyone have any question about it they can go to colin and talk about it because they have relationships. Its one of the most important things my College Coach mentioned when i signed my letter of intent to i wasnt signing a letter of intent. I was signing up to be a part of the family, a fraternity of men that i would spend the next four maybe five years of my life with learning about it as they were learning about me and we would go together as a family. In many lockers its the same thing but i dont believe that everyone outside the lock of his talk about will be something that we will see. I think instead well see guys walkinwalking together are an ao play the Football Games and the families playing together after Football Games are over with in the summertime and spent a while to get ready for the next season. Season. Carmen, im sure youre an echo of this in terms of labor organizing. Before you brought up the viewership being down, to which for me i aint watching a nice give and while but i look okay, let me turn to than others to see what theyre doing. Theres an entire generation of people that are going to be, theyre going to be beholden to the 40 because they took a stance because these players are actually being seen as role models. Ill tell you whats and not dividing people, the that ugly that is probably being made off of Colin Kaepernick suggested to my coworker was out in california can get pictures and could find because it was sold out. To me on the one hand you cant reprimand the players for the things that they care about ever showed up at work as a black person or a person of color. On the other hand, be okay with making money off of the blood. I think for us in the work force we work with people we dont agree with all the other i work with republicans, maybe not here but i work with republicans, folks that they have a different stance but at the end of the day we are all working towards the same common goal. If our political stances or the things to keep us from the connecticut worked in an endless would be us would be able to get our work done. So for me thats not a viable excuse for why we should that be able to dissent about the things we believe in. This next question ill start with you carmen and russia need a drink of water. We set the table now we need to eat because were here tonight to speak about the role that unions can play and the role that sports unions can play in advancing this discussion for equity and Racial Justice. First for people who dont know, maybe give us an education. How our unions right now in the present tense involved in the black lives Matter Movement . I think someone asked the question differently, our unions involved in the black lives Matter Movement . The stance of the national aflcio is asserted that black lives matter. Not only to black lives matter, what we stand for issues pertaining to Racial Justice. We believe that people cannot just show up to work as workers, people show up with all of the identities. We have been striving to do our work through and racial and gender justice lens because we understand that when i show up to work on the comment that when i decide to shave my head and put a slip in the site, somebody, thats not common, and that someone might make a suggestion about that. Its not do something might happen to me. Thats something that could happen to many of us. Over the past year weve embarked on a process of having a commission on racial and Economic Justice were going around and talked to Union Members from every single sector around how this race intersect with your work. Finally, we been doing an incredible amount of work on criminal justice reform. We see that because in the United States we have enforcement over 2. 4 million to over 7 million are currently semiconnected back to the criminal justice system. As that relates to voting if you think about states like florida were only one in four black men are actually able to vote because they kind of funny rights taken away from them, because theyve committed a felony, for us in the Labor Movement that the huge problem. Weve got a significant amount of people that cannot participate in democracy that would be organizing around worker issues are covered for our political system has not only punish him the first time by car from them by the second, third and fourth time by not letting to work, not letting them fall, not letting them have Public Housing or really even move ahead in life. So here at the aflcio we dont just see it from a monolithic perspective. We see it as we are trying to help people live a better life. So what does that look like what that looks like being able to show up at work as her full self and also be able to receive the benefits and wages that are deserved no matter what your gender, Sexual Identity or your race. Ill also am people should google this if theyre not aware of it but seattle teachers this past week, but ill were black lives matter tshirts to school and there were celebrations and rallies of that at schools across the city of seattle. Acidified with its only 8 africanamerican. So it was taken on by majority not africanamerican actors is designed to black lives matter the it started as an act of solidarity when one school, an Elementary School of all things wanted to do a celebration of racial pride celebration and account bomb threats. They got white supremacist threats and vandalism. Whats so important is that teachers wanted to do something to help these kids were, as by that experience s where did they go . They went to the union. This is going to be our vehicle to organize an antiracist response. It has happened at the Grassroots Level but its important people see that the union is that space where to go to do it. I would want to take that to go to bring the question to you is, how can you see the nfl, i assume right now there are people in the nfl are trying to figure out a way to assert themselves politically, in spite of what Colin Kaepernick. Maybe they dont want to take a knee. Seattle Seahawks Michael Bennet was at the seattle, one of the seattle rally afterwards to celebrate i a hypocrite like the look, im only going to be an nfl put another few years i will be a black mama life so thats what i need to say black lives matter. What is the union putting forward for players as a way to help with this . Obviously benjamin is Vice President of the nfl p8 and im the guy who works there but i know that we organized a number of different ways that this can express themselves. Our job is really to provide it with the correct information on how they can express themselves through the vote, express themselves through the advocacy, how they can express themselves even if they want to be connected to some publication or website so that they can ride an article or express themselves using their own words or using video or some other media. The specific things i will say that weve done it without a unique partnership with rock the vote to get information out to our locker rooms about how those players who may be away from their home state can get absentee ballots if they need to to express themselves in that way. We are looking at other ways to partner with the aflcio in some of the get out the vote activism and camping that they are doing around this topic. In addition specific about black lives matter and police brutality, and the number of locker rooms around the United States it has been publicized but there have been that all meetings with the players on those teams have decided to go to the Police Departments in those cities and have closeddoor council meetings, conversations with them about how they can Work Together to improve their relationships in those communities. And its been positive in the city that it has happened because of the first time these guys had an opportunity to speak their minds to the lawenforcement folk on the other side of the table. In and of im with you would understand where theyre coming from and what they were getting. Tensions have been going on both sides. Look, we typically technical publishers of innercity to get a Police Escort and theres a relationship thats better whether they want it or not. And they turned on the news and they see a different side of the Police Enforcement that they had not seen another part of the escort to the state of what they want to take pictures with them. They also know benjamin isnt in baltimore but these and some other major city in the United States, please offices may not recognize that he is the typing and the National Football league so theyve asked that we can help bridge some of those gaps. Its not just in those spaces, account all spaces, devoting space but also advocacy on capitol hill. In the next month we plan to have no less than 15 players that asked personally to come to washington, d. C. On their off day on their off days so they can meet with members of congress and meet with the representatives and with a state senators. We have been diligently organizing some of those interactions so that those players cant on their own time fly to washington, d. C. And talk to their elected officials about what they can do to help get this right. Thats fascinating. I didnt expect it and without much depth and wisdom. That was great, thank you. Thats what we do. Spent and as im up there, unlike man, we are doing a lot of stuff. Is a lot happening i dont know about. Benjamin, the same question, i think its, i think thats a big last comment before we throw it open to everybody because we want to hear from all of you but benjamin for the last word is to you. What do you think is the best way to you mentioned the town hall with the Baltimore Ravens. Thats fascinating. What role do you see any point on a Grassroots Team by teams level as the way to advance this discussion of black lives matter and Police Accountability . I think it all goes back to the assumption that because we have made it, we dont know where we came from our we cant abdicate for those who are less fortunate. Its the assumption that because quarterback is making 11 a year or because that type it is making whatever he is making, you cant care 11 million you cant care about someone being pulled over or not being able to vote or you dont care about sex trafficking, namely, some injustices its not just black lives. Pour have the town Hall Meetings we had so many different opinions but we came away to say if there is an engine and justice we care about each other even if were not experiencing the injustice. We want to know the truth and stanford justice personally as an athlete, a father public to stand for truth, justice and righteousness and i dont care what person or where they live those of the three things that we will stand for. So lot of guys feel that way. So talkedabout organizing or Advocacy Network come to me or come to washington with speakers coming in your time and had a senator talk to them but there is a stirring in the n. F. L. I imagine in the nba that is a reflection outside of those stores of what is going on out here we all feel we have to do something about what . Called, but ultimately we have irresponsibility as part of the nfl to walk on our platform and be responsible. That is so we want to do. [applause] now were opening the floor for questions there will be a microphone just put your hand up and one of the folks will grad grab one depressions are comments less than two minutes. It is not the, your wisdom just to make sure people can speak. If you hear a tap for wrapup dont take it personal. The say get well and come back and they need you says my grandson. By focusing on last comment about Baseball Players being reticent. What about uh aflcio doing to cross pollinate crops so that this movement does not end after the commissioner with super bowl sunday . We are in constant communication. With the executive directors in did beginning of the season it was colin and may not be the division that it seems to be. But when it comes to a union said no they have been in conversation. From they have been working on other issues, even with the legislative group not only with football and baseball and hockey. Even majorleague soccer. Be kind of work to those issues together. What affects football today could be a detriment to basketball to marco if we move our eye off the ball too far but that would be really bad joke. Especially from the labor perspective when there were times especially in louisiana were so as the owner tries to do xyz one so the lines of communication i will leave that to your judgment. Please correct me if i am wrong that is the only sports unit is under the umbrella . Diane appreciate the panel adjusted get this right for every athlete protests there are thousands of oped writers that plant the flag of shut up and play like brent must berger or david frost and brooks as a tow highschool athletes to shut them play and most of these escape criticism and there is no longterm effects to their career unlike those that they critique so how do you feel these are rewarded . This starts with you benjamin. Talking before that lots of it is shut them places as we mentioned earlier with a highschool players, we have seen pewee teams do they really know why theyre doing what they are doing greg side had a conversation with nfl quarterbacks with tough highschool team in the state of texas so how do we explain this to the kids . They have opendoor for his kids to be open to allow him as a coach to step into the world and that is what is not reported but the ex nfl quarterback to have that on this conversation with them. With the older brothers that are locked up to have experiences with the of police to have the the at that point. When it comes to journalism that everybody has an opinion and they stay on their side. What is missing in journalism is a willingness to hear what is not yours. Even if you dont agree at least did you can discover to make a certain statement to fill the ideals that was beautifully said. As a journalist i would say the majority of reporting was done on the protein on negative the protests of athletes. The other word i would use it is cowardly. To say they are here from undefeated both of those have ben traffic on the question but to agree with that analysis they are not cowardly but they are reporting on what the athletes are saying. The cowardice of the reporting has been and what they are kneeling for. To say this is the anti military protests. Or hate america protest. I do that they lack the courage to say i disagree with the idea there is a policing problem in this country. People of color getting killed in did you dont think that you have a responsibility as a journalist to make the case to argue your point. But this is turning into Something Else like how beautiful the fly is . That is journalism not worthy of its name. I was very excited to see studentathletes and they were crushed when the labor board nullified that. Mostly at Northwestern University if that could resonate through the nfl. The Nfl Players Association those that started the National Collegiate it Players Association at Northwestern University but what we see is a realization by some folks. That i am the person i have been waiting for i do not believe that will be the end of the conversation, lot of people are doing the same thing with the up situation players are not asking for cash but better conditions on their campus of northwestern and for that with everybody that wrote on the subject say they just want to be paid. Instead of talking about the interlocking issues that the players were trying to talk about. Transpose that 2016 the same thing all he asked for was a conversation about what was happening with policing in this country but instead it was changed by journalist to a conversation about why colin is an american. So i think youve sitting in the audience need to take a stand that you know to be the right thing with that underlying message of what they are really saying saying, somebody else guide your thought process that is when anderson it not what they started the conversation. We love your thoughts whether college Football Players on the campus should be seen as workers and have a seat at the table at their campus. Yes yes yes. [applause] there are numbers, there are rules, i remember when they wanted to unionize it was a crazy idea. I didnt know what union was. But to see the trickledown effect and how the athletes were paying attention to see if this is something that we need as well. That there are many breaches of rights because we dont have the representation of the nfl. To bargain to have their voices heard. Is the story that started because several players took a labor of law class . To say this sounds very familiar with a war punished by their coach and administration of the school for trying to apply what they were learning in class. That is why they steer them to certain degrees they do not want them to learn to much. [laughter] one of those from somebody that is here tonight at the university of kansas of sari Kansas University Sean Alexander teaches sports history with the 10 of a mystery but it does not have to be basket weaving 1011. [laughter] it is good that the nfl is neutral but had few ben getting pushed back from the owners . For some of the nfl owners as well . Bayous saying push back that they dont like what Colin Kaepernick and the other players are doing. What i do know there are some statements that are on the record and but securely in the last couple of weeks to say maybe he did not agree with what the players were doing. So i think you can find some of that. The owners of data nfl wobble are billionaires that atmosphere is one that is very different so we understand they have a different mentality but they will develop a relationship with the athletes and talk about those common experiences and maybe they make a better owners. Maybe that is up for negotiation. I know you talk about unity in the locker room with Colin Kaepernick stand but to me i ought to talk for everybodys a readiness room but if something was going down to have a black lives matter protest lot of us would get in line with you, but the elite people who stood up for Colin Kaepernick have been africanamerican athletes in the nfl. And i guess the one Soccer Player slow, it almost speaks of a division. And meyer right toward the White Brothers need to get onboard . En our meeting town hall yesterday about one of the things that we talked about was the difference between White America and black america and the experience outcast to want to enter into the black experience. That is not good or bad but the way it is you can go nearly most of your life and not have to fink about the experience for someone who was black but those who are black have to know about white culture and understand how to navigate. That is the way the country is that up. But what is wrong is you actively dont want to invade should experience or hear something that is not your experience. There are many white players who empathize i think those that think that is outlandish but we have not seen the white players one said he was in a way to see was the first white guy because he would face more raff than Colin Kaepernick from people that are very close to him. So they wave that while they make that decision. It is the privilege to not stand up. To me this is my race, what i care about, i have never met benjamin but he is my brother. If these diems ordeals then i feel that i have to also is almost an acceptable to support them on the field but when it comes to their life we will not support them and we have learned raised is not a black peoples problem that white people are affected just like black people and latinos and asians. There have been so many policies and procedures that have been created to divide workers of color steven through the election cycle b. C. How race plays a predominant role. Think about right to work we dont think that as a piece of resh racist legislation but it was created from texas antisemitic and decided that i dont want the black apes in and the work force with the white brother so he created a divisive piece of legislation to go along with jim crow laws to make it difficult for blackandwhite workers to Work Together in the south because of what was happening in the north. Follow the of money and the politics. But when they think racism does not affect them then they have another thing coming especially if you care about the utmost is predominately black. Maybe we have not seen widespread support from those players that do not look like Colin Kaepernick but but as they come to the aid of Colin Kaepernick there are those that have stood up to say i stand by him. Of high of this shared a motion that now have these conversations for the first time in a real way are leading them to find their own way and their own agency. I dont know that my job but as a consumer it is to say the only way to show Colin Kaepernick your support is doing exactly the same that Colin Kaepernick is doing at all times. I am not taking your agency away from you to do what you need to do to be comfortable in a moment. Also i would hearken back we have seen steven ross come out to offer his support so we have seen some people but once they found their way and their own agency to confront some of these things that they see better in line with what Colin Kaepernick is doing. It is also worth noting at doc highschool level or Junior High School level there are athletes white and brown kneeling with their athletes cheerleading football volleyball billion members use of the footage in oakland star spangled banner singers and that should make us feel hopeful that there is not more white male professional athletes you can see how powerful it can be when white and black teammates and deal together. I do write about this issue where to take the weight is so important. Id like being a black athlete is a burden in the blessing it is a blessing because you can connect with people like Jackie Robinson but it is a burden because it is on you from the media perspective another athlete gets in trouble what are you think about dogfighting . That is the burden of a black athlete. Is past time for the white athletes to take some of that burden,. Talk about what the first time we went to Branch Rickey and convince him to help Jackie Robinson to integrate. That is endemic in the system of capitalism. And once that point was raised it took away his allamerican football. Bomb to see if it is the problem of black people or fit is systemic. So i wonder is that the message what we are trying to explain to people to build a high united movement. So what do you think about that . Who. Negative the number one way is that racism hurts everyone and what are the impacts that has all the work force. We heard too mentally prepared for that racism racism, and that youd call a regular worker bomb, from that legislation we think about trade in trade Pacific Partnership to talk about yes that hurts all workers but specifically on them from pittsburg. Hopes but i am thinking about how trade has completed he decimated by a little city. So it will take a Culture Shift to not have the white guilt how it isnt even White Privilege but communities of color make up a significant portion of the Labor Movement. It is time to figure out how do we have full integration . That allows for us to move a more Progressive Agenda for word . For the movement of black lives in trade from or tpp then we might be able to put more pressure on the administration. So to see that Labor Movement and those of us that to work here the closer they will to organize around our issues. Because we work on the economy. The nfl is 70 percent black and therefore white players are in minority situation. So what experiences do they learn about africanamericans . Because at 1. 20 years ago it was said that the locker room because of so many black players that the white players would take a leadership role also is that not happening . When you go home at night to white players go to white neighborhoods or mixed neighborhoods . If you look at their retirement of white players and where they live for send their kids to school because this was the issue and whether personal relationships would embolden them. [laughter] lot of questions. I would say most dont go to black neighborhoods. I dont know any nfl players i have been in the league 13 years. I just dont know any. Also the nfl is 70 percent black and or 60 or whenever it is a was talking to a couple of players in those First Experience had to do with sports. There were never around black people but they make up a 17 population and never had experience in dog football teams with black people. And that is very valid. They only had experience with the bet, news channels channels, mtv and those images are not the best. So they came into this experience with up preconceived notion. Some word debunked and some were confirmed so now you can be in a place with other people and still have racist attitudes. Did is possible to get into a place with mixed company to work towards a common goal to go your separate ways to those you just take a shower with it is possible only then can we did all we think about each other to simply look for ways to affirm our prejudice against each other. So the first up in is to be in the same space together but this is beyond that if we change at racism so your question about the kids about going to college . What school they go to . Most that i know we home school our kids, albert five children. My wife and back home schools the oldest to. They are seven and six sons send them to private school i know some people go to public school. You have them coming from all different places all different economic levels and those expectations. There is a variety in the school. Is a good question it has to be skewed because the socioeconomic said. I mean to say that nfl players have to think of security as well not just say there are not affluent be africanamerican neighborhoods but where the teams are located the players live other players live in probably looks like a locker room fec people that look like them and as we know the way they are distributed that probably it will not represent that same level of blackness. So then when it comes to sending their kids to school i think the washington football team, becoming is it practices in the us themepark. [laughter] the huskies . But what about after you retire . If will then what i say she go to the of convention better former nfl players better still living in this country around the world. Igo to the convention and see almost 1,000 most of those played but the family still vacation together the kids go to the same school because the kids corrupt together so the relationships that started in the locker room broke down some of those barriers because they lived in a neighborhood that did not look exactly like their locker room but the relationships between those families changed the makeup of their future. Overtime. When of my teammates just entered the of hall of fame this year and asked me to be one of the people to Say Something about him when he was entered into the hall of fame he is not black people a opposite behind me buttons we have built the great apprenticeships over the years but at the same time he is still one of my really good friends i am happy to do what he asks me to. I know his wife and he knows mine and we are living in the space. We have time for one more question. I played professional basketball as well. [applause] first want to make a comment to take an activist spin to look at social justice that we are part of society. If they grew up in the 60s are played in the 70s and 80s to recognize there are issues that we could have stood out for and spoken up for, it is unprecedented to have social media. And unprecedented leverage with regard to sponsorships. Is there more that can be done . With those actions to kneel for those of their protests . With that of unprecedented leverage can ahab impact on messaging . Or their focus . I know expresident of the association we underwrote to those segregation cases. Simply because some of that push back sees that sensationalism but itll seen those other actions as a beneficial impact as starting the conversation. Is there more that can be done . You all did a fabulous job and we stand under shoulders. There is a lease something that can be done to take this action what do they do next back i have been encouraged because throughout the nfl baird is a Group Conference call message with hundreds of players talking about what can they do next . Guy some different teams are brainstorming so what is the next up . So there is that murmuring of what to do next. Talk about corporate sponsorship in we saw of player lose change further. Is suspect we personal level for the athletes especially in our homes as fathers and husbands what kind of children are we raising . We talk about what is going on out there it is terrible. There is so much injustice but what can we control . For ip married to your kids mother . Erasing them . Are you praying for them . Are you demonstrating what it means to be a man . That can go just as far as health care there is a lot to be done and the more people that our aware on all the holes or even the outside influence the conversation starts and it has to be handed off. The way that we finish this is let you talk about the National Basketball association signing off on the make this brief to use what celebrity they have by having the players have the conversation out now, we hope to engage even more when they retire. And what that executive committee did was to ensure they set up the system to help them do their transition for the first time they came together to create through the leadership. Now we go live to utah for remarks from the Vice President ial nominee mike pence governor of indiana speaking to supporters and Salt Lake City. Life coverage cspan2. Hello utah. [cheers and applause] think you so much. I am mike pence. From the great state of indiana. A little more than three months ago my wife at my side eye except denomination to run and serve as the net next Vice President of the United States of america. I could not be more honored or humbled to be with you today. Thank you for the great introduction he knows me well enough to note the introduction that actually prefer is pretty short a christian and a conservative and a republican in that order. [cheers and applause] i appreciate gray get his values. Give them a round of applause the congressmen that is with us today is amazing to think as we stand here today for 13 days short of of great victory all across the state of utah as a victory for the United States of america apropos i join in this campaign in a heartbeat you have nominated a man for president who never quits and never backs down he is a fighter is seemed like she was fighting on his own but now the movement is coming together utah is coming together we will make donald trump the next president of United States of america. [applause] i have to tell you having gotten to know this man and his family i think he embodies the spirit of america. Strong. Of both freedom loving independent. Courageous and optimistic and willing to fight every single day for what he believes n48 deals of the American People. [applause] you saw that in him about one week ago when he beat Hillary Clinton in that debate hands down and i know something about being on that debate stage we had one of all our own in virginia with a Vice President ial race i want to apologize to be a few minutes late as that was getting out of the plane tim kane called an interrupted me five times. [laughter] some people think that i won that debate. [cheers and applause] but from where i was sitting donald trump won the debate. His agenda for america won the debate in his vision to make America Great again will go all the way to the lighthouse. I really believe that most people come to realize it isnt just a choice between two people is really between to futures. So i will tell you where i stand i choose a stronger america. A more prosperous america. I choose an america that upholds the highest constitutional ideals so i choose to stand with donald trump and every american who believes in we can make america a great again for. [applause] its not like it did say fair fight out there. I get up every morning i have to turn on the television and with this deck a stick. I dont know what will be there the National Media to half of the Hillary Clintons work for her but donald trump is still winning the hearts and minds everyday all the way to the oval office. It really is incredible. National media with Hillary Clinton and their campaign are trying to predict that is rolled up. The air of inevitability. Let me tell you you talk, do not buy it do not be fooled. This raises in is on here in utah we will go all the way to the finish she may have the viet said the money in the special interest on her side but donald trump and and i,. [chanting] but from where i stand we have a basket of americans who say enough is enough. [cheers and applause] especially based they that almost fast and loose ethics to know what im talking about blacks it is amazing stay with me. While she was secretary of state in charge of all for policy she had a private Family Foundation that took millions of dollars from foreign governments are you with me . Then in between those to a private server to keep those females out of the public reach. And then when it was found out she applied technology and hammers to get rid of those. On the truth is a force of nature and the truth is coming out. We just found out one week ago the fbi confirmed the state department under Hillary Clinton offered the fbi the quid pro quo and they could change the classification status on some of those females. Classified documents. [booing] we found out what they think of people of faith resaw emails from the old Campaign Manager she thought some people were catholics because it was more socially except double to be that in an evangelical. All the while responding to an email criticizing them for their catholic faith after all these promises and never made any decisions based on pay to play we found out while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state after the terrible earthquake in haiti that the contracts to rebuild haiti said they should be flagged for friends of the clintons who want to get that work and everybody else could go to the website the American People are sick and tired of these condescending attitudes about what we believe and who we are unrealistic and tired of pay to play politics this will come to an end today and when donald trump becomes president of United States. Donald trump has a plan. Honesty and accountability. The first 100 days we will pass that kind of Ethics Reform once and for all well drain the swamp in washington d. C. [cheers and applause] [chanting] donald trump the man who wrote the arts of the deal has a deal for the American People. And the contrast between what we are offering the country with the failed record has to be talk about. Eye is about security, prosperity in the highest court in the land. I just have to tell you on the security front we have to talk about Hillary Clintons record the truth of the matter is theres only two people on the ballot that you will cast that has any chance to be president of the United States we have to talk about her record despite traveling millions of files as our secretary of state no doubt the world is more dangerous today than when she took over our Foreign Policy seven and a half years of rock obama has weakened americas place in the world our allies are less secure innovation more emboldened history teaches weakness in is evil but i would submit that the week for a policy of Hillary Clinton the architect of the obama Foreign Policy of leading from behind to moving the red lines feigning the reset with russia to pay ransom to terrorists sponsoring states is emblematic of a weak approach to the world. Did when donald trump becomes president we will not pay ransom to terrorists. They will pay a price. [cheers and applause] if they threaten our detained american citizens. But Hillary Clinton initiated this disaster is agreement i have to tell you one of the great conservatives of america is with us here today. Give him a round of applause. [applause] i remember back in the day passing those sanctions as they permanently e abandon with the paulette of cash we discoid a delete a delay with their nuclear ambitions. The leading states sponsor of terrorism is now on track to obtain most dangerous weapon in the world. [booing] Hillary Clinton as secretary of state failed to renegotiate the agreement with iraq that would have allowed us to have forces to of those hardfought gains. I travel downrange with Operation Iraqi freedom. I saw the sacrifices of our families and servicemen. We stood by the graveside and wept. It is important for us to remember by the end of 2008 through great sacrifice the american soldier won the of peace in iraq and the stability of the nation was a care. I iraq was secure before i go one step further i will bet theres more than a few men and women to have worn the uniform. Please raise your hand so we can show you got proper appreciation. [cheers and applause] [applause] [chanting] day 24 service from the bottom of my harper could agree clinton failed to renegotiate the agreement to take all forces out to create a vacuum in which the monstrous terrorist Organization Vice this could rise up out of the desert to overrun vast areas that were 13 extraordinary sacrifice and as we stand here today more than 5,000 americans are in harms way having to win back with the american soldier had already won before Hillary Clinton and lastly Hillary Clinton and her state department put americans in harms way in benghazi. [booing] after for americans fell she told their parents at Dover Air Force base when there sacred remains came home it was because of a filmmaker even though she knew and wrote to her own daughter that night it was a terrorist style alkali attack. When she was confronted before the United States senate, she spoke words that we will never forget that those for fallen americans and the reasons why they fell, she said what difference at this point does it make . [booing] i will tell you. From my heart as the proud parents of a United States marine anybody who says that should ever be disqualified to be commander in chief of the armed services. You dont americans in harms way and dont say what difference does it make when they fall. [cheers and applause] this administration has failed in its test of leadership with regard to our military we have the Smallest Army since 1940. It is older than the pilots that were trained. To date we have the smallest number of ships since 1916. Men and women of utah we cannot have four more years of apologizing to our enemies to abandon our friends and neglect democracy for america to be safe for the world to be saved american needs to be strong and donald trump will leave on the world stage. [cheers and applause] we will rebuild our military restored the arsenal of democracy giving the soldiers sailors and airmen and marines the resources and the training that they need that they will sundown to destroy isis in every terrorist organization. That is probably why donald trump has been endorsed by more than 200 admirals and generals including those medal of honor winners to be the next commander in chief but it is then just security abroad but safety at home. And truthfully we live in a challenging time for those who have the uniform of lawenforcement michael cole was a cop in my hero growing up in it breaks my heart it seems like every time there is tragedy that follows a moment where a Police Officer is performing and calling for that accountability there is too many in the media to use a broad brush as a force for division in our society. Donald trump and i know that men and women who serve in lawenforcement i. R. A. A force for good. Day are the best of us to put their lives on the line every single day we should honor and support them. Theres a lot of members here today and just to show them how much we appreciate what they do every day. [applause] as the chief lawenforcement officer of the United States of america, i promised President Donald Trump will stand by the men and women of Law Enforcement at every in level to provide them with their resources and the training that they need we will restore law and order to every city and community in the land that is probably why more than 330,000 members of the Fraternal Order Police indorse donald trump to be the next president of the United States. About security abroad and safety at home and their record could not be more different when it comes from the prosperity of this nation. Listen to the numbers. I know things are good here in utah you have strong leadership but i promise what you know, in indiana today across this country nearly one out of four americans in their prime years is not even working. One notified households have no one with the job living under the same roof. 45 million americans on food stamps 47 million living in poverty. Hillary clintons plan . More of the same. More of the same failed idealist, more taxes, more regulation, more obamacare more American Energy stifling jobs and growth they tallis this economy is the best we can do and just be patient things are getting better. But utah and knows it is no where the best that we can do it is just the best that they can do. When donald trott becomes president of the United States of america we put common sense conservative principles into practice to get all of america working again. [applause] donald trump has a plan when weve reelect republican majorities in the United States house and the United States senate to roll perceives in the first 100 days we would raise taxes by 1 trillion budget cut taxes across the board for working families. We will get rid of the death tax once and for all. And lower business taxes in america so American Companies can compete with those around the world to create jobs right here. When it comes to the two forms of taxation, the government can take your money and spending are tell you how. That is called regulation. The avalanche of acronyms and is stifling, at the epa epa, abc defg laugh laugh so they will sign a moratorium and we will repeal every unconstitutional obama executive order on dave number one. [cheers and applause] because donald trump and i know that when he becomes negotiator in chief we will have trade. But once again trade means american jobs first. We will call of trading partners accountable. And lastly we will work with the newly elected majorities in the house and the senate to pry off the back of the economy that even bill clinton called the craziest thing in the world, i did you hear about this . Literally always there fighting against obamacare on capitol hill if you remember those days speaker policy was driving the bill through and went to the poll [booing] i heard this with my own ears she said we have to pass this bill so we can find out what is it meant what is in it. We did. [booing] just last monday the Obama Administration themselves announced the average premiums for the basic plan will go up 25 next year. Deal remember if you like your doctor you can keep it . Not true. To remember them telling you if you like your Health Insurance you can keep it . Not true. Remember Health Insurance would be more affordable in america with the Affordable Care act . Not true. The truth is you had bill clinton calling it the craziest thing in the world that is evidence even with the clintons occasionally truce in happens. [laughter] and but dont be deceived by his skepticism rubio negative year Hillary Clinton said pullback before they call them obamacare they called it hillary care. Make no mistake Hillary Clinton went to canada l2 give a speech we have a copy of it. She told them she hoped for a canadianstyle health care system. In canada they have socialized medicine and one of the things she talks about is the single payer option. But my favorite did you hear that president obama went down to florida to talk about obamacare . It was the third anniversary he went down to brag about it he actually compared obamacare to the Samsung Galaxy phones that spontaneously would burst into flames. It is true. This is what the president said or leased a former speech writer wrote for him. When one of the companies comes out with the new smart phone if it has a bug they fix it unless it catches fire then they pull off the market. What a coincidence mr. President because that is exactly what we will do with obamacare we will pull off the market so what stops burning up our wallets. [cheers and applause] we will we peel obamacare lox stock imperil not replacing with the socialized medicine give more Consumer Choice about the free market economy to create Health Insurance products for the American People. That is the american way that is what the administration will do. It is about security london and women here in utah is about profound issues and values emanating around life in and liberty and the Supreme Court of the United States of america. Literally is on the ballot. Did you see that right out of the gate with the passing of soleil and great justice glia the balance of the Supreme Court is literally on the ballot i like Hillary Clinton is president using an unelected judges to take unconstitutional action did you hear her answer one week ago she was asked about her philosophy of the Supreme Court she said they should represent all of us that is hell i see the court and the kind of people i am looking for standup to power. I was a congressman 12 years. The congress represents the people of the district the supreme choric is designed to uphold the constitution of the United States to settle disputes and uphold the law. It is not the representative branch of government but literally legislating from the bench the truce is what was in the debate last week with no restriction on abortion no restriction on the Second Amendment. So let me say here in utah for the sake of the rule of law and sanctity of life and the constitution of the United States of godgiven and liberties enshrined in the bill of rights we must insure here and now in the great state of utah that the next president making appointments to the Supreme Court will be President Donald Trump. [cheers and applause] it is just that important. [chanting] medicine just about the courts interpretation but also what we enact standing for life and liberty upon is when he becomes president of United States we will sign the unborn protection child act and then all late term abortions once and for all when he becomes president we will insure that no taxpayer dollars are used to Fund Abortion and make that hide amendment a permanent law in an donald trump becomes president largest Abortion Provider in america will no longer be the largest recipient of federal funding we will undefined plan parenthood to redirect those dollars to Womens Health programs to those that do not provide abortion and stand for life in the trump penns administration and stand for liberty when it comes to the religious liberty of our people. There is a great story about donald trump one year ago meeting with the sound pasteurs from all around the country that expressed enthusiasm he is a businessman. He said can you tell people about that theyll look that the ground to say no. For we cannot. He said why . Politicians always ask what the leaders asked why. Said he asked why in every pastor said since the 50s there is a lot of the books best sexually prohibits six was a leak that they cannot express an opinion for or against our they risk losing there taxexempt status. When you think of the role of freedom of religion one and here in the state of utah were you personify all the great values of this nation in so many ways, think of the founding of this nation some of the most fiery speeches given for independence and distributed as a pamphlet history records those were sermons given from the pulpit think about the way we brought slavery to when and and the father of perrier to Beecher Stowe the communities of faith who condemn slavery with the abolition of slavery think that we have stood in those very pews of nl k. Church in Montgomery Alabama and those who gathered to sing and pray and march with the civil Rights Movement itself by the conscience of a nation led by a pastor and people of faith. It is extraordinary. The role of people to move us toward a new plan negative to more Perfect Union taken not be more proud because the Donald Trumps leadership. For the first time in the Republican Party lawfully peal of the Johnson Amendment is included in the platform of our party we will repeal that law and end free yet across america in the administration and america will be better and stronger. I gather with you today at a challenging time in the life of our nation. I stopped by a cbs the other day the woman said governor, we are all for you. And then she said this seems like the only a penny or allowed to have is somebody elses. Ever get that way . The American People are tired of being told this is as good as it gets. As they get to solve these problems someday just not today. Wheat retired of being told that little intellectual eat camp plan our lives better for us. And we can ourselves for a good American People are ready to be hurt if heard and with their voice and their values and vision of this country in the way to do that first and foremost, is my first request, vote. Vote early. Vote today and bring a friend. Early voting has started and